U.S. Hits Iran Sites, Revokes Oil-Sale Licenses --- Prices surge after moves, which were prompted by attacks on vessels near strait

 

 

“U.S. forces pounded sites along Iran's coast in fresh airstrikes on Tuesday and the Trump administration blocked Tehran's ability to sell oil legally, in a fierce response to Tehran's recent attacks on ships near the Strait of Hormuz.

 

Iran responded with counterattacks, according to a senior U.S. official. The moves threatened to unravel an interim peace deal that took weeks to negotiate and to drive up oil prices.

 

The attacks mark the most significant escalation since the U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on June 17 to reopen the strait and wind down the war. Prior to that agreement, the two sides exchanged fire multiple times, but Tuesday's strikes were planned to be much more significant in scale in order to send a strong message to Tehran, according to the senior U.S. official.

 

U.S. Central Command, which is overseeing the war, said the U.S. completed the strikes, after hitting more than 80 targets including air defense systems, command and control networks, antiship missile sites and more than 60 Iranian small boats near the waterway. The attacks were four to five times more extensive than other strikes launched since the agreement to end the war was signed last month, the senior official said. The U.S. still considers the ceasefire in effect, the person said.

 

"Centcom forces remain postured and prepared to hold Iran accountable when the agreement is not adhered to or obeyed," the command said in a statement. Centcom didn't provide any details on Iran's retaliatory actions.

 

Iran responded with strikes and blamed the U.S. for violating the deal. Iran's parliament speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on social media that the U.S.'s reinstated sanctions and fresh strikes, as well as violations of "Iranian adjustments in the Strait" amounted to breaches of the memorandum of understanding. "The era of bullying and extortion is over. It leads nowhere. We don't fold," he wrote.

 

Explosions were reported in Sirik, Qeshm and Bandar Abbas, sites in or near the strait, according to Iranian media. Abu Musa island and the Tunbs islands in the strait were also struck, the senior U.S. official said.

 

Tehran's targeting of the vessels in the international waterway through which 20% of the world's oil used to flow "was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire," U.S. Central Command said.

 

The strikes came shortly after the Trump administration on Tuesday revoked a license allowing Iran to sell oil on the open market, eliminating the primary economic benefit for Tehran as part of an interim peace deal with the U.S. and threatening to unravel the agreement after days of skirmishes in the strait.

 

The Treasury Department said the June 21 temporary license granted to Iran after several months of war would no longer apply, a reprimand coming hours after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired missiles and drones at ships near the strategic waterway. The Treasury allowed for a grace period until July 17 for transactions already authorized under the license.

 

The price of oil rose shortly after the move, even as President Trump has boasted that his efforts to wind down the war with Iran have lowered the price of gasoline and other products. The price of a barrel of Brent Crude oil was almost $76 after the announcement, up about 5% on Monday's closing price.

 

Ever since signing the memorandum of understanding with Iran in June, which reopened the strait and ended the U.S. blockade on Iran, the U.S. said it would provide Tehran with financial incentives only for abiding by the agreement.

 

Allowing Iran to sell oil and to repatriate dollar-denominated revenue into the Iranian banking system was the most important incentive in persuading Tehran to enter a 60-day diplomatic process aimed at ultimately dismantling its nuclear program.

 

A U.S. official said Iran's actions in the strait were considered unacceptable and deserved a stern response. The U.S. would continue to negotiate with Iran toward a final agreement, the official said.

 

U.S. officials were surprised by Iran's attacks on commercial ships amid negotiations and the funeral of the former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Trump administration has sought to set up a back channel between the U.S. military and the IRGC, a powerful military and political force in Iran, but the IRGC has been slow to engage, the officials said.

 

The U.S. has continued to coordinate with commercial vessels transiting the strait using a route it cleared near the coast of Oman. Over the weekend, the IRGC warned ships that it was prepared to target them if they used the route promoted by the U.S. and Oman.

 

Early Tuesday, Iran fired antiship cruise missiles and one-way attack drones at vessels seeking to cross the southern route. Three ships were struck, and the U.S. downed some of drones, American officials said.

 

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman said Tuesday that commercial vessels using routes not coordinated with Iran were disrupting plans to facilitate safe passage through the strait.

 

U.S. warships remain on standby to restart the blockade of Iranian ports should Trump choose to reimpose it, the officials said.

 

The two most critical elements of the interim deal are now under threat -- the oil sanctions relief and safe passage for vessels to pass through the strait.

 

Iran's attacks come just as traffic through the strait is recovering. Daily traffic through the chokepoint has stabilized at between 30 to 60 crossings in recent days.

 

Other critical elements of the interim deal included the lifting of the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports and commerce and an agreement by Tehran to maintain the status quo on its nuclear program and for the U.S. to do likewise on sanctions against Iran. Tehran was also negotiating for the release of some of its frozen funds trapped by U.S. sanctions.

 

Iran's renewed attacks on tankers near the strait are exposing a growing dilemma for Tehran's hard-line leaders, who are relying on their control of the waterway for leverage in talks with the U.S.” [1]

 

1. U.S. Hits Iran Sites, Revokes Oil-Sale Licenses --- Prices surge after moves, which were prompted by attacks on vessels near strait. Ward, Alexander; Seligman, Lara; Faucon, Benoit.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 08 July 2026: A1.