The exchange has reopened fissures in a fragile ceasefire and threatens negotiations to end a three-month war after Iran said its Revolutionary Guard struck an American air base. Iran made the claim after US forces said they struck a military site near Bandar Abbas and shot down four Iranian one-way attack drones that Centcom said posed a threat around the Strait of Hormuz. The strikes, and Iran's retaliatory claim, come as the United States slapped sanctions on the Persian Gulf Strait Authority over a new fee scheme for ships, a measure Washington called extortion. The back-and-forth has already choked traffic through the strait and pushed global energy prices higher.

Four Iranian one-way attack drones were shot down, US Central Command said.

Centcom said its forces struck a ground control station near the port city of Bandar Abbas that it assessed was about to launch a fifth drone, and that the four drones were intercepted because they posed a threat to US personnel and to commercial shipping transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The command described the actions as "measured, purely defensive, and intended to maintain the ceasefire." US officials characterised the strikes as limited and defensive rather than a return to large-scale combat operations.

Claims and counterclaims

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said its forces targeted an American air base in retaliation. A Guards spokesperson was quoted by Iranian news agencies saying, "the U.S. air base identified as the source of the attack was targeted" at 4:50 a.m. local time, but the statement didn't name the base. There was no immediate confirmation from the United States that one of its bases had been struck.

Iranian state media reported explosions to the east of Bandar Abbas and said air defences had been activated. Kuwait's army said its air defences were intercepting "hostile missile and drone threats" and added that explosions heard in Kuwait were the result of those interceptions. US officials said the initial strikes earlier in the week had hit missile sites and boats Iran was deploying to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz, actions that contributed to the heightened military activity.

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Economic and diplomatic fallout

The military exchanges have already had an economic impact. The three-month conflict has choked traffic through one of the world's busiest oil chokepoints and sent the price of oil, liquefied natural gas and related commodities higher, with thousands of commercial tankers left stranded at times. The US Treasury moved in response to Tehran's broader strategy in the waterway by announcing sanctions on the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, the Iranian body collecting payments from vessels using the strait.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the fee scheme amounted to "the Iranian military's latest attempt to extort global maritime trade" and called it proof that Iran was "desperate for cash." Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei defended the payments as charges for "navigational services" and said Tehran would continue to manage traffic in the strait. These competing lines of argument underline how military and economic measures are converging in the contest over control of the waterway.

The week's strikes follow a pattern of tit-for-tat actions that risk undoing fragile diplomatic openings. Earlier US strikes targeted capabilities Iran appeared to be preparing to use to disrupt shipping, and Centcom said its response on Thursday was intended to prevent an imminent launch. Iran framed its response as retaliation for what it called an unlawful attack on Iranian territory.

President Donald Trump, speaking at a cabinet meeting, said Iran was "negotiating on fumes" and warned regional partners that, in his words while discussing pressure on Tehran and Oman, "they will behave just like everybody else or we'll have to blow them up." That blunt rhetoric came amid pressures on the administration to both punish Tehran and keep the Strait of Hormuz open to global commerce.

For now, both sides portray their moves as limited or defensive.

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Watch for US confirmation that any base was hit, independent damage assessments, and whether commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz resumes; further strikes would risk undoing the fragile ceasefire.

This article was created with AI assistance.