Iranian state media report explosions in port cities of Bandar Abbas, Sirik and Jask, as well as Qeshm Island.
Iran says almost a dozen ‘enemy projectiles’ targeted Qeshm Island
Omid Shokri, an energy expert and senior visiting fellow at George Mason University, told Al Jazeera that Brent crude, the main benchmark for oil prices, could rise above $80 if the violence persists, “as traders add a larger geopolitical risk premium”.
“The much greater upside risk would emerge if the fighting restricts tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz or damages Gulf production and export infrastructure,” he added.
Shokri said prices are likely to remain elevated for as long as traders perceive the agreements underpinning the truce between Iran and the US as fragile.
“As a result, price volatility is likely to remain elevated even during periods of relative calm,” he said. “Ultimately, the duration of elevated oil prices will be determined by the extent of actual supply disruptions, not by fragile agreements alone.”
Oil prices have spiked again after the US renewed strikes on Iran over the standoff on the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude climbed 3.3 percent in early trade to reach $78.50 a barrel, up from the recent trough of $70.14, while US crude added 3.4 percent to $73.83 a barrel.
We have more from the Iranian foreign ministry’s statement that condemned the US’s “aggressive” attacks against the country.
The statement also addressed the talks between Iran and Oman on Saturday in Muscat.
It said the talks were focused on the arrangements for managing the Strait of Hormuz and that “unfortunately, the US prevented a result on this issue through overt and covert pressure on Oman”. It also rejected Trump’s claims about the outcome of the talks as “pure falsehoods born of desperation”.
Trump had told US media that Iran had agreed to a deal on Saturday, where “they were giving up everything” but “then all of a sudden two hours after that they hit a ship with a drone”.
Earlier, sources had told Al Jazeera that during Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s meeting with his Omani counterpart, Badr Albusaidi, on Saturday, Muscat had proposed two separately controlled routes in the Strait of Hormuz, one through Iranian territorial waters and one through Omani waters.
A senior official in Iran’s Khuzestan province says one person has been killed and four others injured after a projectile hit an agricultural water pumping station in Mahshahr, according to the IRNA news agency.
Valiollah Hayati, the deputy governor for security and law enforcement, said the attack took place in the early hours of today, adding that the person killed was a guard at the facility.
He said emergency and medical teams were following up on the condition of the wounded.
Reporting from Washington, DC, US
A spokesperson for US Central Command has told Al Jazeera that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or IRGC have fired at commercial shipping transiting the Strait of Hormuz over the past hour.
Captain Tim Hawkins said US aircraft have so far shot down an Iranian cruise missile and a one-way attack drone.
That comes after CENTCOM announced a fresh wave of US attacks on Iranian military targets, which began about two hours ago. The US says those strikes are aimed at degrading Iran’s ability to target commercial shipping and Iranian vessels in the waterway.
So we are still seeing two very different versions of what is happening in the Strait of Hormuz. US President Donald Trump has said the strait is open, while Iran says it is trying to close it until the US stops interfering in the waterway.
But with both sides trading fire in and around the strait, the practical question is how many ships are actually able to cross.
Brent crude has already risen to about $79 a barrel, and the latest figures from Kpler show traffic through the strait had fallen to about 22 ships a day last Thursday, compared with about 130 a day before the start of the war.
That is also becoming a political problem for Trump at home, as rising fuel prices add pressure on his administration and the Republican Party ahead of upcoming congressional elections.
The Democratic congressman has accused Israel’s ambassador to the US of “arrogance” over his comments on the lawmaker’s detention by illegal Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
The criticism from Khanna came after Michael Leiter told the PBS’s Face the Nation that the Democratic lawmaker had not coordinated his visit with Israeli authorities despite Khanna’s office saying he did.
“When we requested he coordinate the trip with us, he rejected that by basically staying silent. So, that’s unfortunate. This whole incident is unfortunate,” Leiter said.
Khanna said Leiter’s comments mark the “height of arrogance”.
“If a US Congressman & American citizens were detained illegally by settlers & the military of any other nation, the Ambassador would beg the American people for forgiveness and take action against the perpetrators,” he wrote on X.
If a US Congressman & American citizens were detained illegally by settlers & the military of any other nation, the Ambassador would beg the American people for forgiveness and take action against the perpetrators. The height of arrogance. https://t.co/SsvE2GU2Rw
— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) July 12, 2026
Reporting from Tehran, Iran
We are witnessing yet another night of escalation in Iran, and now we have seen a longer list of cities targeted in Khuzestan province, Hormozgan province, and Sistan-Baluchestan province.
Initial reports say that attacks have taken place in at least four locations in Hormozgan province – Jask, Sirik, Qeshm Island, and Bandar Abbas – with explosions reported.
These places are critically important for their geostrategic role when it comes to the authority Iran is trying to exercise over the Strait of Hormuz. They also host radar sites and military facilities.
Qeshm Island, for instance, is the largest island in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz.
In Khuzestan province, located in the southwest of the country, we have several cities where attacks have been reported, including in Omidiyeh, Mahshar, Behbahan, Dezful, as well as areas in the vicinity of Ahvaz.
In Sistan-Baluchestan, we’ve got reports of continued air attacks in the vicinity of Chabahar, but one important location struck by the US is in Markazi province, outside the city of Khondab. That is significant because it hosts the country’s heavy water facilities.
New explosions have been heard in Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island as the US carries out a fifth wave of strikes since a ceasefire agreement was signed three weeks ago.
Iranian state media says military sites were targeted in Hormozgan province, with Tehran saying it has retaliated against US military assets in the region.
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Hello, and welcome to our live coverage of the United States and Israel’s war on Iran, as well as Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and Gaza.
Stay with us for the latest news and analysis from across the Middle East and beyond.
You can find our updates from Sunday, July 12, here.
Sunday’s attacks follow three previous days of tit-for-tat strikes between Iran and US as a June ceasefire deal frays.
New explosions have been heard in Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island.
US military has significantly increased the scale of attacks on Iran in recent days as the Strait of Hormuz standoff boils over.
Iran, US resumed fighting because they don’t see each other as ‘reliable negotiating partners’, says analyst Ali Vaez.
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