US Strikes 90 Iran Targets — Hormuz Shipping Grinds to Halt
- Jul 9
- 3 min read
US strikes on Iran expanded dramatically this week as American forces hit roughly 90 military targets along Iran's southern coast near the Strait of Hormuz, and by Thursday morning the world's most important oil chokepoint had gone eerily quiet. Tanker traffic through the waterway ground to a near standstill on July 9, 2026, after President Donald Trump declared the fragile interim ceasefire with Tehran "over" and ordered a second consecutive night of retaliatory airstrikes.
US Central Command said the operation was designed to impose heavy costs on Iran for violating the truce by attacking three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week. In the first wave, CENTCOM reported hitting about 90 targets, including air defense systems, coastal surveillance assets, and missile and drone storage sites. More than 60 fast-attack boats belonging to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were destroyed at their moorings and at sea.
On Thursday, CENTCOM confirmed an additional round of strikes aimed at further degrading Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping and civilian mariners. The back-to-back operations mark the most intense US military action against Iran since the war first erupted earlier this year and the collapse of a ceasefire that many in the region had hoped would hold through the summer.
Iran did not absorb the blows quietly. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it targeted a base in Jordan that houses US forces, and the Jordanian military confirmed it intercepted eight missiles fired from Iranian territory on Thursday. Tehran also launched attacks aimed at US assets in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar, according to regional officials, though damage assessments from those strikes remained limited.
The economic fallout was immediate and global. What had been a recovering flood of oil and gas exports through Hormuz two weeks ago has now stopped almost entirely. Bloomberg reported that at one point Thursday only a single tanker was moving through the waterway — a sanctioned very large crude carrier traveling the Iran-controlled route alongside an Iranian container ship. Roughly a fifth of the world's oil normally passes through the strait.
Oil markets reacted violently. West Texas Intermediate futures jumped 4.4% on Wednesday to close at $73.52 per barrel, then climbed as much as 2.2% Thursday to top $75. Brent crude surged 5.2% to settle at $78.02 before holding near $78. Commodities strategists at ING said markets had been "far too relaxed" about the risks surrounding the ceasefire deal and far too optimistic about how quickly regional supply could rebound.
Speaking after his return from the NATO summit in Ankara, Trump warned that Iran would face further strikes if it launched any more attacks on vessels in the strait, calling the US operation "retribution" for the bombing of ships by Iran. He went further, threatening to reimpose the US naval blockade of Iranian ports and suggesting that Iran's civilian infrastructure could be next, including what he described as the country's "electric plants, where they make their electricity."
The threats against civilian infrastructure drew swift concern from allies and humanitarian organizations, who warned that strikes on Iran's power grid could deepen a humanitarian crisis in a country already reeling from war, sanctions and the recent death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose funeral procession drew millions of mourners this week.
The escalation comes at a delicate political moment inside Iran. The country's new leadership is still consolidating power following Khamenei's death, and analysts say hardliners in the IRGC may see confrontation in the strait as a way to project strength during the transition. That dynamic, they warn, makes miscalculation more likely on both sides.
For global shipping, the crisis is already rewriting routes and insurance math. War-risk premiums for Gulf transits have spiked, several major tanker operators have paused bookings through Hormuz entirely, and freight analysts say every day of closure tightens global crude supply further. Asian buyers, who take the bulk of Gulf crude, face the most immediate exposure.
What happens next hinges on whether either side sees an off-ramp. US officials say the strikes are calibrated to restore deterrence rather than topple the regime, while Iranian officials insist attacks on shipping will continue as long as US forces strike Iranian soil. Diplomats from Oman and Qatar are reportedly attempting to revive back-channel talks that produced the original ceasefire.
The bottom line: the Strait of Hormuz — the artery carrying a fifth of the world's oil — is effectively closed, two militaries are trading fire across it, and energy markets are repricing for a longer conflict. Until tankers move freely again, the world economy is holding its breath.
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