Iran war live: US bombs Iranian cities again as Hormuz standoff intensifies

Live updates,

Iranian state media report explosions in port cities of Bandar Abbas, Sirik and Jask, as well as Qeshm Island.

Published On 13 Jul 2026

• The US military launches new attacks on southern Iran as the standoff over the Strait of Hormuz intensifies.
• Iranian state media report explosions in the port cities of Bandar Abbas, Sirik and Jask, as well as Qeshm Island.

22 Updates

• 1m ago

   (03:00 GMT)

  

  Iran claims attacks on Kuwait airbases

  The IRGC says it has “completely destroyed” fuel tanks and Patriot air defence systems at Ali Al-Salem Air Base as well as a strategic FPS radar system at Ahmed Al-Jaber Air Base.

  In a statement, the IRGC said the attacks were carried out by its aerospace forces during the third phase of what it called its “eye-for-an-eye” operation in response to US military action against Iran.

  The IRGC said the operation was continuing.

  It also warned against further US involvement in the Strait of Hormuz, saying Iran would not allow continued foreign military interference in the waterway.

• 13m ago

   (02:47 GMT)

  

  Explosions heard in Iran’s Bandar Abbas

  The IRNA news agency reports that at least two powerful explosions have been heard in Bandar Abbas, in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, in the past hour.

  The report came moments before US Central Command announced that its latest wave of attacks on Iran was over.

• 15m ago

   (02:45 GMT)

  

  Iran claims attack on Bahrain’s Sheikh Isa airbase

  The IRGC says it targeted several facilities at the Sheikh Isa airbase in Bahrain in the second phase of its retaliatory operation.

  In a statement, the IRGC said its aerospace forces struck helicopter maintenance facilities, a hangar housing a P-8 aircraft and a US military drone command-and-control centre.

  The IRGC said the attacks were carried out in response to continued US military action against Iran. It added that its retaliatory attacks were continuing.

• 20m ago

   (02:40 GMT)

  

  US military says ‘dozens of targets’ hit in Iran, including air defence systems

  More from the CENTCOM statement.

  It said it hit “dozens of targets at multiple locations with precision munitions to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking international shipping flowing through the Strait of Hormuz”.

  These targets include “Iranian military air-defense systems, coastal radar sites, missile and drone capabilities, and small boats”.

  CENTCOM said it deployed “US fighter aircraft, naval vessels, one-way attack aerial drones, and one-way attack sea drones for the first time”.

• 23m ago

   (02:37 GMT)

  

  US military says latest wave of attacks against Iran now over

  US Central Command says it has “completed a new wave of offensive strikes against Iran”.

  We’ll bring you more shortly.

• 33m ago

   (02:27 GMT)

  

  Iran claims attacks on Jordan’s Prince Hassan airbase

  The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it targeted the Prince Hassan airbase in Jordan with missiles and drones, setting fire to several fuel depots and ammunition storage facilities.

  In a statement, the IRGC said the attack was the first phase of its response to US strikes on Iranian coastal military bases.

  It said the US attacks followed an operation by the IRGC Navy to stop two ships in the Strait of Hormuz, which it accused of “switching off their tracking systems, travelling illegally and endangering navigation”.

  The IRGC said its retaliatory operations are continuing and that the results would be announced in subsequent statements.

• 41m ago

   (02:20 GMT)

  

  Iran launches missile, drone attacks on ‘enemy bases’, state media report

  Iran’s Nour News Agency reports that the Iranian Army and the IRGC have launched “large-scale missile and drone attacks” on “enemy bases in the region”.

  Citing an Iranian military official, the agency said the operation was launched in response to the US’s continuing attacks on Iran and targeted sites identified following “enemy movements” over the past 48 hours.

• 46m ago

   (02:15 GMT)

  

  US strikes cannot ‘sufficiently degrade’ Iran’s ability to disrupt Hormuz shipping

  Alan Eyre, a distinguished diplomatic fellow at the Middle East Institute, says Iran views control of the Strait of Hormuz as its primary strategic deterrent and is not yet prepared to relinquish it.

  But “this is something that the US is not yet willing to accept”, said Eyre, who served on the US team that negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which Trump later withdrew from.

  “So, forget about talking about the nuclear issue. This is the main speed bump that has to be negotiated and navigated if we want a resolution for the nuclear issue. And right now, I don’t see that happening,” Eyre said.

  He added that the US’s ongoing strikes would not “sufficiently degrade” Iran’s ability to threaten shipping through the strait.

  “The US is, again, doing what it does best: attacking Iran militarily, because we do have military supremacy. But the unfortunate reality is that no matter how much we strike the coastal areas, we cannot sufficiently degrade Iran’s potential to threaten shipping through this strait,” Eyre said.

  And that’s “because Iran has so many missiles, so many drones, so many smaller attack craft that can threaten vessels”, he added.

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• 1h ago

   (02:00 GMT)

  Trump claims he has 59 percent approval rating

  The US president has said in a Truth Social post that he has a 59 percent approval rating, while also claiming that prices are falling, alongside oil and gas costs.

  “59% Approval Rating. Prices coming down along with the lowering of oil and gas,” Trump wrote in the brief post.

  He did not specify the source for the approval rating figure, but the latest polls, including from HarrisX and Quantus Insights this month, show that some 43 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s performance, while some 54-55 percent disapprove.

  Meanwhile, global oil prices are also surging amid the renewed tensions in the Gulf, with Brent crude climbing about 3.3 percent to about $78.50 a barrel.

  

• 1h ago

   (01:52 GMT)

  

  Sirens blare in Bahrain

  Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior has said air raid sirens have been activated.

  The ministry also advised people to avoid using or obstructing main roads unless necessary and said that further safety instructions would follow.

• 1h ago

   (01:45 GMT)

  WATCH: US launches more strikes on Iran as Strait of Hormuz standoff deepens

  The US has launched a new wave of strikes on Iran targeting what it says is Tehran’s ability to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

  Trump has declared the waterway open, while Iran insists it is closed, leading to a further escalation of attacks.

  Watch below:

• 1h ago

   (01:30 GMT)

  

  US strikes hit eight towns across Iran’s Khuzestan province, official says

  We have more on the US attacks on Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province.

  Valiollah Hayati, the province’s deputy governor for security and law enforcement, told the semi-official ISNA news agency that US forces attacked at least eight locations across Khuzestan in recent hours.

  The strikes landed in a series of waves between 1:35am and 2:20am local time.

  He said officials were still assessing the damage in each area and denied that Ahvaz airport had been struck, saying the two impact points near the city were on its outskirts.

  Earlier, Hayati had said that one person was killed and four others wounded after a projectile hit an agricultural water pumping station in Mahshahr.

• 1h ago

   (01:15 GMT)

  ANALYSIS

  Oil prices could rise above $80 a barrel if violence persists

  Omid Shokri, an energy expert and senior visiting fellow at George Mason University, told Al Jazeera that Brent crude, the main benchmark for oil prices, could rise above $80 if the violence persists, “as traders add a larger geopolitical risk premium”.

  “The much greater upside risk would emerge if the fighting restricts tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, or damages Gulf production and export infrastructure,” he added.

  Shokri said prices are likely to remain elevated for as long as traders perceive the agreements underpinning the truce between Iran and the US as fragile.

  “As a result, price volatility is likely to remain elevated even during periods of relative calm,” he said. “Ultimately, the duration of elevated oil prices will be determined by the extent of actual supply disruptions, not by fragile agreements alone.”

• 1h ago

   (01:10 GMT)

  

  Oil prices surge as US, Iran exchange tit-for-tat attacks

  Oil prices have spiked again after the US renewed strikes on Iran over the standoff on the Strait of Hormuz.

  Brent crude climbed 3.3 percent in early trade to reach $78.50 a barrel, up from the recent trough of $70.14, while US crude added 3.4 percent to $73.83 a barrel.

• 2h ago

   (01:00 GMT)

  Iran accuses US of ‘overt and covert pressure’ on Oman

  We have more from the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s statement that condemned the US’s “aggressive” attacks against the country.

  The statement also addressed the talks between Iran and Oman on Saturday in Muscat.

  It said the talks focused on arrangements for managing the Strait of Hormuz and that, “unfortunately, the US prevented a result on this issue through overt and covert pressure on Oman”. It also rejected Trump’s claims about the outcome of the talks as “pure falsehoods born of desperation”.

  Trump had told US media that Iran had agreed to a deal on Saturday, where “they were giving up everything”, but “then, all of a sudden, two hours after that, they hit a ship with a drone”.

  Earlier, sources told Al Jazeera that during Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s meeting with his Omani counterpart, Badr Albusaidi, on Saturday, Muscat had proposed two separately-controlled routes in the Strait of Hormuz, one through Iranian territorial waters and one through Omani waters.

• 2h ago

   (00:45 GMT)

  

  US attack on water pumping station in Iran’s Mahshar kills 1, wounds 4

  A senior official in Iran’s Khuzestan province says one person has been killed and four others injured after a projectile hit an agricultural water pumping station in Mahshahr, according to the IRNA news agency.

  Valiollah Hayati, the deputy governor for security and law enforcement, said the attack took place in the early hours of today, adding that the person killed was a guard at the facility.

  He said emergency and medical teams were following up on the condition of the wounded.

• 2h ago

   (00:30 GMT)

  US say IRGC continuing to fire at ships in Hormuz

  Reporting from Washington, DC, US

  A spokesperson for US Central Command has told Al Jazeera that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, has fired at commercial shipping transiting the Strait of Hormuz over the past hour.

  Captain Tim Hawkins said US aircraft have so far shot down an Iranian cruise missile and a one-way attack drone.

  That comes after CENTCOM announced a fresh wave of US attacks on Iranian military targets, which began about two hours ago. The US says those strikes are aimed at degrading Iran’s ability to target commercial shipping… in the waterway.

  So we are still seeing two very different versions of what is happening in the Strait of Hormuz. US President Donald Trump has said the strait is open, while Iran says it is trying to close it until the US stops interfering in the waterway.

  But with both sides trading fire in and around the strait, the practical question is: how many ships are actually able to cross?

  Brent crude has already risen to about $79 a barrel, and the latest figures from Kpler show traffic through the strait had fallen to about 22 ships a day last Thursday, compared with about 130 a day before the start of the war.

  That is also becoming a political problem for Trump at home, as rising fuel prices add pressure on his administration and the Republican Party ahead of upcoming congressional elections.

• 2h ago

   (00:20 GMT)

  Ro Khanna hits back at Israeli ambassador over West Bank detention

  The Democratic congressman has accused Israel’s ambassador to the US of “arrogance” over his comments on the lawmaker’s detention by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.

  The criticism from Khanna came after Michael Leiter told PBS’s Face the Nation that the Democratic lawmaker had not coordinated his visit with Israeli authorities despite Khanna’s office saying he did.

  “When we requested he coordinate the trip with us, he rejected that by basically staying silent. So, that’s unfortunate. This whole incident is unfortunate,” Leiter said.

  Khanna said Leiter’s comments mark the “height of arrogance”.

  “If a US Congressman & American citizens were detained illegally by settlers & the military of any other nation, the Ambassador would beg the American people for forgiveness and take action against the perpetrators,” he wrote on X.

  If a US Congressman & American citizens were detained illegally by settlers & the military of any other nation, the Ambassador would beg the American people for forgiveness and take action against the perpetrators. The height of arrogance. https://t.co/SsvE2GU2Rw

  — Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) July 12, 2026

• 2h ago

   (00:10 GMT)

  US targets geostrategically important cities along Strait of Hormuz

  Reporting from Tehran, Iran

  We are witnessing yet another night of escalation in Iran, and now we have seen a longer list of cities targeted in Khuzestan province, Hormozgan province, and Sistan-Baluchestan province.

  Initial reports say that attacks have taken place in at least four locations in Hormozgan province – Jask, Sirik, Qeshm Island, and Bandar Abbas – with explosions reported.

  These places are critically important for their geostrategic role when it comes to the authority Iran is trying to exercise over the Strait of Hormuz. They also host radar sites and military facilities.

  Qeshm Island, for instance, is the largest island in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz.

  In Khuzestan province, located in the southwest of the country, we have several cities where attacks have been reported, including in Omidiyeh, Mahshar, Behbahan, Dezful, as well as areas in the vicinity of Ahvaz.

  In Sistan-Baluchestan, we’ve got reports of continued air attacks in the vicinity of Chabahar, but one important location struck by the US is in Markazi province, outside the city of Khondab. That is significant because it hosts the country’s heavy water facilities.

• 2h ago

   (00:06 GMT)

  WATCH: Iran says almost dozen ‘enemy projectiles’ targeted Qeshm Island

  New explosions have been heard in Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island as the US carries out a fifth wave of strikes since a ceasefire agreement was signed three weeks ago.

  Iranian state media say military sites were targeted in Hormozgan province, with Tehran saying it has retaliated against US military assets in the region.

  Watch below: