U.S. conducts large-scale airstrikes on Iran after Hormuz vessel attack, prompting retaliatory fire on Gulf states

The United States launched a series of airstrikes early Sunday against Iran, targeting missile and drone launch sites, ammunition depots, communications equipment and other facilities, Central Command said the operation hit about 140 targets. The strikes were a response to an Iranian attack on a Cyprus-flagged container ship in the Strait of Hormuz that caused severe engine-room damage, set the vessel ablaze and forced the crew to abandon it.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed the ship had ignored warnings and was struck by a warning shot. The Iranian state media reported that U.S. strikes hit locations in the southern provinces of Bushehr, Hormozgan, Khuzestan and Sistan-Baluchestan, as well as Lorestan, but gave no casualty figures.

In retaliation, Iran fired missiles and drones toward Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Alerts sounded in Bahrain and Qatar, and Qatar’s military said it intercepted incoming fire. The United Arab Emirates warned of a possible missile and drone attack, though specific targets were not immediately identified.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted online, “Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay.” Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf responded on X, stating, “The era of one-sided deals is OVER… Reality is knocking.”

The violence follows recent diplomatic talks between Iran and Oman on the strait, and comes after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested an interim deal in the conflict was “over.” Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, vowed that the nation would avenge the killing of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the war’s opening strikes.

U.S. officials, speaking anonymously, attributed the renewed hostilities to a “rogue faction of Iranian hard-liners” seeking to undermine the ceasefire, while Iran maintains that its theocratic leadership remains unified.