US airstrikes hit northern Iran as it disables ship trying to run the
blockade
[July 16, 2026]
By JON GAMBRELL
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States intensified its
strikes targeting Iran early Thursday, hitting targets further north as
American forces also fired into a ship it accused of trying to break its
naval blockade on the Islamic Republic. Iran retaliated with missile and
drone fire targeting Bahrain and Kuwait before dawn.
Days of back-and-forth strikes by the U.S. and Iran across the Middle
East — and renewed threats to the Strait of Hormuz — have shredded the
interim deal to end the Iran war and could tip the region back into
all-out war. Already, Iranian officials say U.S. strikes have killed
more than 35 people and wounded more than 300 others. Strikes also
reached into areas around Iran's capital, Tehran, for the first time of
this latest round of violence.
When the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran
effectively closed the strait to shipping traffic — a move that sent the
price of oil, fertilizer and many other goods soaring far beyond the
region and gave Iran major leverage in negotiations.
US and Iran trade threats as attacks intensify
Those rising prices pose a particular challenge to U.S. President Donald
Trump and his Republican Party, which hopes to retain control of
Congress in elections in November. But Washington has struggled to
successfully reopen the waterway, leading to Trump reimposing the naval
blockade Wednesday.
Iran’s parliament speaker and lead negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf,
said Iran was prepared for a fuller military confrontation if the U.S.
does not live up to the terms of the interim deal, and Iran’s
paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened to halt all energy exports
from the Middle East over the blockade.
“The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone
or for no one,” the Guard said.
Trump again insisted Iran was ready to strike a peace deal, but he did
not elaborate.
“They don’t like what we’re doing, and they do want to settle. We’ll
find out whether or not we settle with them, or we just finish it off,”
he said Wednesday at the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania.
Trump separately said on social media that Tehran made a goodwill
gesture by releasing an American citizen wrongly detained in Iran since
2024. He didn’t release further details. Human rights lawyer Jared
Genser released a statement identifying the detainee as his client Dena
Karari, a U.S.-Iranian citizen who runs a nonprofit and was charged with
espionage.
Iran did not immediately acknowledge the release and her case hadn't
been publicly known, which sometimes happens with detentions in the
Islamic Republic.
Both the US and Iran launch attacks as the blockade is reimposed
The U.S. strikes early Thursday hit around Tehran, state media reported.
It also reported American attacks targeted Semnan province, home to
Iran’s ballistic missile production and space program.
[to top of second column]
|
An army cadet walks past a billboard bearing anti-Trump messages,
including the phrase "We Kill Trump," at Islamic Revolution Square
in downtown Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid
Salemi)
On Wednesday, the U.S. resumed striking Iran during daylight —
further showing the increasing tempo of the attacks. Its attack on
Greater Tunb Island, a strategic point in the Strait of Hormuz —
targeted Iranian defense and missile sites, Central Command said.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military said it opened fire on the
Curacao-flagged oil tanker Belma sailing toward Kharg Island, Iran's
main oil export terminal in the Persian Gulf. After the ship
“ignored multiple warnings,” a U.S. aircraft disabled the merchant
vessel by firing a missile into the ship’s smokestack.
Another American strike Wednesday targeted a barracks for Iran’s
388th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, which operates tanks and armored
vehicles, in Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iranian state
television reported. The report said Americans fired at least 13
missiles in the attack and the seven dead included conscripts and
career soldiers. A number of troops were wounded.
The Strait of Hormuz remains at the heart of the fighting
The latest round of fighting is focused on the Strait of Hormuz. How
to reopen the strait has bedeviled the U.S. since Iran choked it off
in the early days of the war.
During the interim deal, some ships began moving through the passage
using a route near Oman overseen by the U.S. military that is
outside Tehran’s control.
In recent days, Iran attacked ships using that route — and
back-and-forth attacks ensued. The U.S. has threatened to reopen the
strait by force — but experts say that would require a much bigger
armada if not tens of thousands of ground troops. Imposing the
blockade is another way to put pressure on Iran.
But in the meantime, oil prices are rising. The price for Brent
crude oil, the international standard, traded above $85 a barrel on
Thursday — more than 15% higher than the price before the war, but
still well below the nearly $120 reached at the height of the
conflict.
___
Associated Press writers Michelle Price, Konstantin Toropin, Will
Weissert, Collin Binkley and Fatima Hussein in Washington,
Christopher Weber in Los Angeles, and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran,
contributed to this report.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
