{"id":64653,"date":"2026-07-12T09:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T13:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/u-s-central-command-reaffirms-control-of-strait-of-hormuz-amid-iranian-aggression\/64653\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T09:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T13:08:13","slug":"u-s-central-command-reaffirms-control-of-strait-of-hormuz-amid-iranian-aggression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/u-s-central-command-reaffirms-control-of-strait-of-hormuz-amid-iranian-aggression\/64653\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Central Command Reaffirms Control of Strait of Hormuz Amid Iranian Aggression"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Over 140 ships successfully transited the Strait of Hormuz<\/strong> in the past seven days despite Iranian attempts to close the waterway.<\/li>\n<li><strong>U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) conducted a third wave of retaliatory strikes<\/strong>, hitting approximately <strong>140 Iranian military targets<\/strong> on Saturday to degrade Tehran&#39;s ability to harass commercial shipping.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) declared the Strait closed<\/strong> following an attack on the Cyprus-flagged container ship <strong>GFS Galaxy<\/strong>, but the U.S. maintains that &quot;traffic is flowing&quot; and Iran does not control the international waterway.<\/li>\n<li><strong>U.S. forces have hit more than 300 targets<\/strong> over three nights of operations, targeting missile sites, drone storage, and naval capabilities.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Energy markets remain on high alert<\/strong> as the Strait handles roughly one-fifth of the world&#39;s oil supply, with major producers like ExxonMobil (<a href=\"\/stock\/XOM\">XOM<\/a>) and Chevron (<a href=\"\/stock\/CVX\">CVX<\/a>) closely monitoring the security of maritime transit routes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The <strong>U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM)<\/strong> issued a series of defiant statements on Sunday, July 12, 2026, asserting that the <strong>Strait of Hormuz<\/strong> remains open to all legal international shipping. This follows a dramatic escalation in the Persian Gulf where the <strong>Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)<\/strong> claimed to have closed the vital waterway. CENTCOM reported that more than <strong>140 ships<\/strong> have crossed the strait in the last week, emphasizing that navigation continues despite what it termed &quot;unjustified aggression&quot; from Tehran.<\/p>\n<p>The latest flare-up was triggered by an Iranian attack on the <strong>GFS Galaxy<\/strong>, a Cyprus-flagged container ship. The vessel suffered significant engine room damage and an onboard fire, leaving one civilian crew member missing. In immediate response, U.S. forces launched a third series of precision strikes, hitting <strong>140 targets<\/strong> including coastal surveillance locations, communication networks, and ammunition storage facilities. This brings the total number of Iranian military sites neutralized by the U.S. this week to over <strong>300<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth<\/strong> underscored the administration&#39;s stance, stating on social media that &quot;Iran made a poor choice&quot; and is now &quot;paying the price.&quot; While Iran has claimed the right to control shipping lanes and has threatened to target U.S. military bases in the region, CENTCOM has dismissed these declarations as &quot;arbitrary.&quot; The U.S. military maintains that its forces are &quot;positioned and ready&quot; to ensure the freedom of navigation through the southern route of the strait, which has been expanded to accommodate two-way traffic.<\/p>\n<p>The ongoing conflict has significant implications for global energy stability. The Strait of Hormuz is a critical chokepoint for the global economy, and any prolonged disruption could lead to a sharp spike in crude <a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/energy\/crude-oil\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"12\" title=\"Crude oil\">oil prices<\/a>. Investors are paying close attention to the resilience of shipping lanes used by energy giants such as ExxonMobil (<a href=\"\/stock\/XOM\">XOM<\/a>) and Chevron (<a href=\"\/stock\/CVX\">CVX<\/a>). Despite the &quot;severe&quot; maritime security threat level, the U.S.-led Joint Maritime Information Center continues to coordinate safe passage for tankers and cargo vessels through the international corridor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Over 140 ships successfully transited the Strait of Hormuz in the past seven days despite Iranian attempts to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[10176,4457,4487,4664,4811,5036,5057,5230,5687,5688],"class_list":["post-64653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-u-s-central-command","tag-oil-prices","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-iran","tag-global-trade","tag-irgc","tag-maritime-security","tag-defense","tag-xom-stock-xom","tag-cvx-stock-cvx"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}