The US Central Command said American forces began the third round of strikes this week at 7:15 pm ET on Saturday after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “blatantly attacked M/V GFS Galaxy, a Cyprus-flagged container ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”
“A civilian crew member is missing and the vessel is unable to continue the journey due to an onboard fire and significant engineroom damage,” CENTCOM said in a post on X.
The US military said Iran had been given another opportunity to comply with the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding following earlier attacks on commercial vessels but had “again failed”.
It said the latest strikes were aimed at degrading Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial vessels passing through the strait.
Iran, meanwhile, said it had closed the Strait of Hormuz after firing a warning shot that struck a vessel travelling on what it described as an unapproved route. Tehran warned that any retaliation would be met with a “severe response”.
The IRGC also claimed it had targeted US military facilities at Prince Hassan Air Base in Jordan with several ballistic missiles.
In a statement carried by Iranian state broadcaster IRIB, the force said its aerospace unit destroyed a command-and-control centre at the base and hangars housing MQ-9 drones. The claims could not be independently verified.
The IRGC accused the US of attempting to route several vessels through what it called an “illegal route” in the southern part of the Strait of Hormuz by pressuring Oman. It said the move was stopped by a “decisive response” from its navy.
It further claimed the US later struck coastal bases and telecommunications towers in southern Iran, prompting what it described as the first phase of its retaliation.
The IRGC warned that continued US attacks would lead to “more severe responses”, further raising tensions around the Strait of Hormuz and commercial shipping in the region.
(Edited by : Tenzin Norzom)
First Published: Jul 12, 2026 9:17 AM IST