{"id":64668,"date":"2026-07-12T17:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T21:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/u-s-launches-heavy-airstrikes-on-iran-following-strait-of-hormuz-ship-attack\/64668\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T17:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T21:38:12","slug":"u-s-launches-heavy-airstrikes-on-iran-following-strait-of-hormuz-ship-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/u-s-launches-heavy-airstrikes-on-iran-following-strait-of-hormuz-ship-attack\/64668\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Launches Heavy Airstrikes on Iran Following Strait of Hormuz Ship Attack"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM)<\/strong> launched a third wave of heavy airstrikes against <strong>140 Iranian military targets<\/strong> on July 12, 2026, bringing the three-night total to over <strong>300 targets destroyed<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)<\/strong> declared the <strong>Strait of Hormuz closed<\/strong> &quot;until further notice,&quot; a claim the U.S. military has rejected, insisting that commercial traffic continues to flow.<\/li>\n<li>The escalation follows an Iranian attack on the <strong>M\/V GFS Galaxy<\/strong>, a Cyprus-flagged container ship, which suffered significant engine room damage and left one civilian crew member missing.<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/energy\/crude-oil\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"12\" title=\"Crude oil\">Oil prices<\/a><\/strong> saw volatile trading, with <strong>Brent crude<\/strong> (<a href=\"\/stock\/BRENT\">BRENT<\/a>) and <strong>WTI<\/strong> (<a href=\"\/stock\/WTI\">WTI<\/a>) spiking over <strong>5%<\/strong> earlier in the week before settling as markets weigh the risk of a total breakdown in regional ceasefire negotiations.<\/li>\n<li>Iran retaliated by launching drone and missile strikes against U.S.-linked facilities in <strong>Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman<\/strong>, significantly expanding the scope of the conflict.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>U.S. Central Command<\/strong> forces began a massive new round of strikes against Iranian military assets at 5 p.m. ET on July 12, 2026. The operation, directed by the Commander in Chief, aims to degrade Iran&#39;s capability to harass and attack commercial vessels in the <strong>Strait of Hormuz<\/strong>, a waterway responsible for 20% of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) and oil transit.<\/p>\n<p>The strikes targeted a wide array of infrastructure, including <strong>missile and drone launch sites, ammunition dumps, and naval facilities<\/strong> along Iran&#39;s southern coast. President Donald Trump confirmed the intensity of the assault, stating that the U.S. &quot;bombed the hell out of them&quot; after Iran allegedly walked away from a &quot;perfect deal&quot; to instead attack civilian mariners.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>IRGC<\/strong> responded by declaring the Strait of Hormuz a closed zone, citing &quot;illegal movements&quot; by U.S. forces. Despite this declaration, <strong>CENTCOM<\/strong> maintains that the international waterway remains open to lawful transit and that U.S. forces are positioned to ensure freedom of navigation.<\/p>\n<p>Regional tensions have reached a boiling point as Iran expanded its retaliatory strikes to neighboring Gulf states. Reports indicate that Iranian forces targeted the <strong>Prince Hassan Air Base<\/strong> in Jordan and the <strong>Al-Udeid Air Base<\/strong> in Qatar (<a href=\"\/stock\/QATAR\">QATAR<\/a>), while also striking naval logistics hubs at the Omani port of <strong>Duqm<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Energy markets are reacting sharply to the potential collapse of the interim ceasefire signed in June. While oil prices eased slightly on Thursday to approximately <strong>$77 per barrel<\/strong> for Brent, the renewed fighting has forced war underwriters to advise shipping companies to pause voyages through the region, threatening a return to the supply constraints seen earlier this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) launched a third wave of heavy airstrikes against 140 Iranian military targets on July [&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 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