Kashmir Impulse Desk

New Delhi, July 13

The United States launched a fresh wave of military strikes against Iran on Sunday, saying the attacks were aimed at weakening Tehran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran accused Washington of illegally disrupting navigation in one of the world’s busiest energy corridors.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the strikes began at 5 pm Eastern Time on the orders of President Donald Trump and were intended to degrade Iran’s capacity to target civilian vessels and commercial shipping transiting the strategic waterway.

“The Commander in Chief has directed the strikes to hold Iranian forces accountable,” CENTCOM said in a statement posted on social media.

The US military also rejected Iranian media reports that American service members had been killed in retaliatory attacks, describing the claims as false and saying all U.S. personnel in the region had been accounted for.

The latest strikes come amid rapidly escalating tensions over security in the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow shipping lane linking the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman through which roughly a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil passes.

CENTCOM said the waterway remained an international passage and rejected assertions by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy that foreign vessels could transit the strait only under Iranian supervision.

“The Strait of Hormuz is open to all vessels seeking lawful passage,” the command said, adding that U.S. forces remained positioned to safeguard freedom of navigation.

Iran, however, accused Washington of creating instability in the region.

The Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA), quoted by the state-run IRNA news agency, said maritime transit through the strait had become impossible because of what it described as “illegal” US military activities.

The authority advised shipping companies to suspend transit requests until stability returned and said applications would be processed once conditions allowed.

Iranian officials also insisted that the country remained responsible for safeguarding the strategic waterway. A spokesperson for Iran’s parliamentary National Security Commission said Tehran would continue to maintain security in the strait “with strength.”

Separately, President Donald Trump declared that the Strait of Hormuz would remain open “with or without Iran” and announced what he called the reinstatement of an “Iranian Blockade,” under which restrictions would apply only to Iranian vessels and ships trading with Iran.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump also said the United States would assume responsibility for securing the waterway and proposed recovering the costs through charges on cargo transiting the strait.

The exchange marks a sharp escalation in the confrontation between Washington and Tehran, heightening concerns over the security of one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints and raising the risk of further disruption to global energy supplies.