July 12, 2026

Middle East

 NY Times -   U.S. Central Command said on Saturday evening that it had launched strikes on Iran after the Iranian navy attacked a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz, rejecting a U.S. ultimatum to open the critical waterway to traffic.

Hours earlier, the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, had met in Oman with its top diplomat to discuss safe passage in the Strait of Hormuz, but he made no public commitments. The prospect of a reopening seemed dimmer than ever after Iran announced the attack, a warning shot on a container ship, and said it would close the strait “until the end of U.S. interference in the region.”

The Iranian navy said it had fired after “several ships attempted to travel along an unapproved route” and ignored directions to transit through Iran’s territorial waters. It warned that it would meet any U.S. retaliation to its attack with a “forceful response.”

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