The United States and Iran have entered a dangerous new phase of their long-running confrontation. On September 1, US Central Command said American forces had begun striking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets in Iran, citing “attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members deployed to the region.” Iran responded with missiles and drones aimed at US-linked positions across the Gulf.
The exchange ended roughly a month of relative calm and revived fears of a wider regional war — one that has, in fact, been running since President Trump announced “major combat operations” against Iran on February 28, 2026, with joint US-Israeli strikes on military, government and infrastructure sites. A ceasefire-style truce and negotiations over the following months never produced a lasting deal, and the Strait of Hormuz has remained the flashpoint.
President Trump confirmed the September 1 strikes on Truth Social: “The United States is, as we speak, striking Iranian Targets near the Strait of Hormuz.” He described the operation as “large and powerful” retaliation for what he called Iran's failed attempt to lay sea mines in the strait and for an Iranian missile attack on a US base in Jordan. He warned: “If the failed Nation of Iran retaliates for this very justified attack, they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level.”
Iran did retaliate. Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait reported intercepting incoming fire, and explosions were reported over Aqaba. By September 5, CENTCOM said US forces had also struck an Iranian crude oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, and Iran's chief negotiator, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, declared that “the era of 'proportionate responses' is over.”
The Strait of Hormuz is the narrow waterway separating Iran from Oman that links the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman. Before the war, roughly a fifth of the world's oil supply passed through it, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Iran shut the strait to shipping when the war began in late February, and the US has since run a rolling naval and air campaign — including a blockade — aimed at reopening it and preventing Iran from rebuilding coastal radar and missile capability. This is not a new war; it is the latest and sharpest escalation of one that has already been running for more than six months.