Sharp escalation overnight in the confrontation between Iran and the United States.

Following a series of attacks by the Pasdaran against vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, including 2 tankers — one Saudi and one Qatari — Washington launched a wave of air strikes against Iranian targets (missile sites and air defense installations) in the Bandar Abbas area and on the islands of Qeshm and Sirik.

CENTCOM announced it had struck 80 targets, including several Pasdaran fast attack craft. At the same time, the US Treasury Department announced the suspension of the waiver, provided for under the MoU signed between the 2 countries in mid-June, that allows the production and export of Iranian oil through Hormuz during the interim period between the MoU and the final agreement.

Retaliation came quickly, with Tehran launching missiles against U.S. bases in Kuwait and Bahrain and claiming the shot down of an MQ-9 REAPER UAV.

This morning further strikes were reported in the Bushehr area, in southern Iran, along with air raid sirens in Bahrain.

At the root of this "flare-up of war" is the attempted passage of several vessels through the "Omani corridor" of Hormuz, which Oman has opened in the southern part of the Strait. Iran does not officially recognize the right of vessels to transit this corridor and insists instead on the route that runs further north, close to the Iranian coast, currently used by most of the vessels crossing the Strait of Hormuz.

In substance, Tehran believes that, by virtue of the outcome achieved in the War, it can still exercise a degree of control over the Strait: a stance clearly unacceptable to Washington (and to the international community as a whole), which has therefore decided to react in a non-proportional manner to the Pasdaran's initiatives.

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