The US has reverted to military attacks on Iran for the first time in a month, firing missiles and drones at Iranian rocket launchers on an island in the strait of Hormuz, prompting the Iranian military to attack US military bases in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
US Central Command said it acted late on Sunday after it detected the Iranians planning to fire fresh mines into the strait. Last week Donald Trump claimed the US navy had cleared the strait of mines for the first time since the conflict started on 28 February, a claim the Iranians rejected as lies.
Iranian state TV later reported that a tanker had caught fire after hitting two naval mines while attempting to pass through the southern side of the strait close to Oman. It did not identify the vessel or provide information about its crew.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned that other ships violating its rules would face the same fate and said compliance with its regulations for passage through the strait was mandatory.
The last known US strikes on Iran were in late July, but there has been little sign of hard diplomatic progress apart from claims that Oman and Iran had reached agreement on a single permitted navigation route through the strait. Iran has set preconditions before the agreed route is opened, and the US has not stated its position on the route.
