US-Iran Tensions: Control Struggles in the Strait of Hormuz

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States and Iran both claimed control over the Strait of Hormuz on Monday after a weekend of escalating attacks throughout the Middle East. These conflicts posed additional threats to diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the war.

The latest exchange was sparked by Iran’s attack on a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, highlighting a vital international oil and gas route under Iranian control since the conflict began. The United States and Israel initiated the war on February 28.

Iran asserts its rights to manage traffic through the strait and to potentially impose fees per a provisional peace agreement reached last month. The United States refutes this, citing international laws on freedom of navigation and has attempted to establish an alternative route beyond Iranian control.

The US and Iran are about midway through a 60-day period within which they were supposed to negotiate a permanent end to the war and settle disputes regarding Iran’s nuclear program. Instead, series of attacks on the strait have raised fears of a return to widespread hostilities and further disruption to the global economy.

Larger hostilities will have catastrophic consequences,” warned UN Secretary-General António Guterres in a statement.

Oil prices surged nearly 5% on Monday before easing. US crude oil, which reached almost $120 per barrel at the war’s peak, was trading around $72.92. Markets displayed mixed responses.

US Claims to Have Attacked Numerous Targets in Iran

The US Central Command reported that its forces attacked dozens of sites on Monday, including air defense systems, radar stations, missile and drone equipment, and small vessels.

The Strait of Hormuz is a vital marine corridor for global trade,” asserted the Central Command. “Iran does not control it.”

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s chief diplomat, also called for the strait to be open as it was before the war. “Freedom of navigation must be respected,” she stated.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary force and crucial power center in the country’s theocracy, sharply rejected the US’s statement.

The Strait of Hormuz is our territory, and we will not permit a rogue army from the other side of the world to continue illegal interference,” the Iranian Revolutionary Guard announced.

Warnings and Reports from Arab States Allied with the US

Missile alerts sounded thrice on Monday in Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, and Kuwait reported intercepting hostile fire. No damages were reported in either country at present.

Jordan’s military stated it had intercepted four Iranian missiles, resulting in no casualties or material damage. Jordan hosts US military forces and aircraft.

Iran reported attacks in the provinces of Hormozgan, Khuzestan, and Markazi, resulting in the death of at least two people, as stated by the state news agency IRNA. Semi-official Iranian media also reported attacks on the eastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, near the Gulf of Oman.

The attacks continued hours after the US ended its bombings, raising the possibility that Gulf Arab states were retaliating against Iran. There were also unclaimed attacks against Iran on Thursday.

On Monday, drones attacked a base belonging to the armed wing of an Iranian Kurdish opposition group in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. Rebaz Sharifi, a local commander, stated the attacks hit a base without specifying casualties or damages.

No group immediately claimed responsibility. Iran supports several powerful militias in Iraq.

Military Perspectives on the Strait Debates

The US military stated early Sunday that it attacked close to 140 targets, including missile and drone launch sites, ammunition depots, communication equipment, and other facilities. These operations were more intense than the previous two bombardment rounds in the past week.

We bombed them until they were exhausted last night,” US President Donald Trump told NBC’s ‘Meet the Press.’

Iran retaliated by attacking regional nations hosting US military forces, maintaining that only it should control the strait and potentially charge ships for passage.

Sunday’s attacks expanded into Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, and even Oman, which shares the strait with Iran. Oman, long serving as a mediator between Tehran and the West, summoned an Iranian diplomat to criticize the attack. Iran described the strait as closed, but the US military and Trump asserted it remains open.

Nonetheless, Iran’s stranglehold over the strait has diminished as the US military has supported ships using a southern route close to Oman’s coast. The new route has angered Iran, which repeatedly attacked ships traveling through it.

Traffic via the Oman route fell during the weekend to ‘minimal levels, indicating operators prioritize perceived safety over more direct transit options,’ reported the MarineTraffic.com’s ship tracking website.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei blamed Washington for the chaos engulfing the Middle East.

Considering the fourteen clauses of the memorandum of understanding, the Americans have, in this brief period, massacred its various components,” Baghaei told reporters on Monday.

Baghaei also stated that Iran would not accept visits from the International Atomic Energy Agency to Iranian nuclear sites bombed by the US in 2025, where Tehran’s stock of highly enriched uranium is believed to remain.

Mediation Efforts Continue

Trump suggested last week that the provisional war agreement was ‘done.’ But mediators, including Pakistan, Qatar, and Egypt, have continued efforts to broker a final agreement to end the war.

A regional official involved in mediation, speaking anonymously due to the sensitive nature of the discussions, said efforts to sustain the ceasefire continued on Sunday. Pakistan reported its foreign minister spoke by phone with Iran’s top diplomat, urging ‘de-escalation’ from both sides.

The new Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has not been seen publicly since the war began. On Saturday, he vowed to avenge his father and predecessor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death in the US and Israeli bombings that triggered the war.

Journalists from The Associated Press, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Stella Martany in Erbil, Iraq, contributed to this report.

This story was translated from English by an AP editor with assistance from a generative AI tool.