US–Iran War

On 5 June 2026 Iran's Navy claimed it fired Qadir missiles and Shahed Danesh offensive drones as 'warning shots' toward US destroyers DDG-103 and DDG-87 in the Sea of Oman, asserting both vessels withdrew toward the Indian Ocean. US Central Command flatly denied it, saying Iranian forces did not attack or fire at any US warship and that US forces continue to operate freely while enforcing the blockade against Iran. The exchange followed US Indo-Pacific Command's confirmed maritime interdiction and boarding of the stateless vessel MT DAVINA in the Indian Ocean. Iran accused US forces of harassment and 'maritime theft' and warned it could use longer-range weapons if necessary.

On 3 June 2026 Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed responsibility for missile and drone attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait that killed one person and injured 63 others. The strikes followed a weekend in which US forces hit Iranian radar and drone command sites in self-defense after Iran downed a US MQ-1 drone, and Iran retaliated by firing ballistic missiles at a US airbase in Kuwait that were intercepted; the US also struck Iran's Qeshm Island. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was 'alarmed' by the overnight US–Iran exchange and 'deeply troubled' by civilian casualties, condemning attacks on civilian infrastructure and backing Pakistan-led mediation. The escalation occurred amid the fragile ceasefire, with Trump claiming the same day that Iran had agreed not to build a nuclear weapon and that Mojtaba Khamenei was involved in the talks.

On Saturday 30 May 2026 Iran fired a Fateh-110 ballistic missile at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait; Kuwaiti air defenses intercepted it, but falling debris wounded five US personnel and contractors, destroyed one MQ-9 Reaper drone and severely damaged a second — an estimated $60 million in losses. The strike landed just 24 hours after Trump unveiled a US-brokered framework to extend the regional ceasefire by 60 days, throwing the deal into doubt as commanders weighed retaliation. It raised to more than 1,850 the number of Iranian ballistic missiles fired since the war began on 28 February. Soar Atlas satellite imagery later showed a destroyed shelter, charred ground and multiple impact craters, contradicting CENTCOM's claim that all missiles were 'defeated'; Kuwait reported one death (an Indian national) and 60 injuries at the international airport, which Iran blamed on a stray US Patriot interceptor.

Average daily traffic through the Strait of Hormuz had fallen roughly 95% since the war began on 28 February — from about 100 vessels a day to around six — according to figures from the IMF's PortWatch tracker; only 532 ships (220 of them tankers, a quarter on 28 February alone) transited between 28 February and 17 May, with 218 passing since the US blockade started. On 27 May Iran's IRGC navy reported 23 ships had crossed the strait with its permission in the prior 24 hours, while US CENTCOM said it had redirected 109 commercial vessels in the Arabian Sea to enforce Trump's blockade since 13 April. The dueling counts — IRGC tallying the trickle it 'permits,' CENTCOM tallying what it turns away — measured the chokepoint from both ends of the dual blockade.

On 24 May Trump said an agreement between the US, Iran 'and the various other countries' to end the two-month war had been 'largely negotiated, subject to finalization,' citing a 'very good call' with regional leaders and a separate call with Netanyahu. The New York Times, citing three senior Iranian officials, reported Tehran had agreed to a draft plan to end fighting and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The optimism followed Trump's 19 May decision to postpone planned strikes as Gulf leaders said a deal was close, and his tense 20 May call with Netanyahu over a Qatar- and Pakistan-drafted peace memo. Within days Iran publicly contradicted Trump, saying the draft did not match his remarks, and by 30 May the framework had collapsed.

A 13 May Congressional Research Service report found that at least 42 US military aircraft — fighter jets, helicopters and drones — had been lost or damaged since the war began on 28 February, with repair and replacement costs pushing the total US war cost to about $29 billion. The disclosure landed during a stalemate in which a tenuous ceasefire had held since April but no peace deal was in sight. It followed Air Force testimony that supplemental funding was needed to replace aircraft lost in the war and warnings that the campaign had drained US precision-munition and interceptor stocks. In a rare incident the same period, one US pilot was reported shot down twice over Iran.

On 8 May 2026 Iran created a state agency to demand fees and registration from ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, emailing shipping companies for cargo weight, value, crew nationality and route, and declaring that vessels from countries that 'caused war damage' must pay reparations. The same day US CENTCOM announced it was preventing more than 70 tankers — carrying over 166 million barrels of Iranian oil worth an estimated $13 billion or more — from entering or leaving Iranian ports. The dueling measures came amid fresh exchanges of fire, including a US strike on two Iranian oil tankers and Iranian attacks on three US destroyers. It turned the strait from a simple closure into a contested rent-versus-embargo regime running in both directions.

On the evening of 6 May 2026 Iran struck the CMA CGM container ship San Antonio in the Strait of Hormuz, setting its engine room ablaze and injuring crew despite a US Navy escort under Project Freedom. President Trump paused the escort mission 'for a short time,' citing 'great progress' toward a deal. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine reported that Iran had hit US forces more than ten times and commercial ships nine times since the April ceasefire. The attack on an escorted French-operated vessel showed the truce existed only on paper at sea.

After more than nine weeks, the US–Israeli air campaign Operation Epic Fury wound down its main combat phase, with the war shifting from a strike campaign to blockade-and-attrition. The campaign had decapitated Iran's leadership but failed to force capitulation or regime collapse, and by its end US intelligence assessed Iran retained most of its missile capabilities. Air Force testimony warned that supplemental funding was needed to replace aircraft lost in the war, foreshadowing the later $29B / 42-aircraft tally. The transition locked the conflict into the dual-blockade stalemate that would define its second and third months.

On 30 April 2026 the United States announced the 'Maritime Freedom Construct' (MFC), a joint State Department–CENTCOM coalition to restore shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran had effectively closed since 28 February; the initiative aimed to ensure safe passage, share real-time information and coordinate transit, building on UK- and France-led talks with over 50 countries. The same day, on Persian Gulf National Day, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued a defiant statement asserting Iran's control over Hormuz shipping and vowing to protect its nuclear and missile programs, signalling a coming toll regime. Brent crude reached $126 a barrel — its highest since 2022 — as the US counter-blockade of Iranian oil ports continued and Khamenei declared the US defeated. Trump warned the naval blockade could last months.

After more than five weeks of fighting, the US and Iran agreed a ceasefire on 7–8 April 2026 that also covered Israel and was meant to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The truce sequenced the easy item — navigation — ahead of the hard one: a nuclear and sanctions framework. It frayed almost immediately, with the Islamabad talks failing and the US beginning its port blockade on 13 April. Folding Israel into a US–Iran deal tied the truce's survival to a third party pursuing its own Lebanon agenda.

In early March 2026 Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel, prompting an IDF ground move into Lebanon; the US sank Iranian naval vessels; and the conflict spread across some nine countries. Iran installed Mojtaba Khamenei as the new Supreme Leader within days of his father's death, signalling the regime had survived decapitation intact enough to keep fighting. The Lebanon front opened here would, by June, become the war's most active theater. The rapid widening foreclosed the swift collapse the opening strike had sought.