[Updated: US strikes Iran in retaliation for the Iranian attack which replies with its own attack on Bahrain. See AP reports below]
Iran knows that if the war remains in the news and gasoline prices remain high, it can tilt the outcome of the midterm elections in the US against Donald Dumb and his MAGA-GOP party.
Does Israel have the right to continue bombing Lebanon despite Trump's shoddy Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Iran?
Netanyahu knows that he is safe as long as a war, any war, is ongoing.
Per AI:
An Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is a maritime area defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that extends up to 200 nautical miles (370 Km) from a coastal state’s baseline. Within this zone, the coastal state holds sovereign rights to explore, exploit, conserve, and manage all natural resources, both living (e.g., fish) and non-living (e.g., oil, gas), as well as jurisdiction over marine scientific research and environmental protection. But other states retain the freedom of navigation, overflight, and the laying of submarine cables and pipelines, provided these activities do not interfere with the coastal state’s resource rights.
Unlike the EEZ, a country's Territorial Waters extend only 12 nautical miles (22 Km) in which it has full sovereignty.
Since the closest distance between Iranian land territory and United Arab Emirates (UAE) land territory is 24 nautical miles (44 kilometers), which occurs across the Strait of Hormuz, a critical narrow stretch of water separating the two nations, it is clear that Iran has no legal or legitimate right to impose fees on transiting ships across the Strait, since its territorial waters do not encompass the remaining 22 Km of international/UAE territorial waters.
Be that as it may, Iran has managed to interfere with shipping across the Strait, which has caused oil prices to skyrocket, and in turn caused Donald Dumb to retreat from his war against Iran because he feared that high gasoline prices at the pump in the US would hurt the Republican Party's chances at the midterm elections in November.
After signing the American surrender document, the so-called "memorandum of understanding", Iran continues to invoke the right to control shipping across the Strait of Hormuz. And to poke the dumb criminal felon in the eye, it just attacked a vessel in the area, as if Iran is playing into the elections. If Iran manages to keep oil prices high by disturbing oil shipping, it could indeed increase the chances of Trump and his party losing Congress.
According to CNN, Iran struck a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, demonstrating its continued ability to restrict the critical waterway, despite the agreement reached last week with the United States. A US official told CNN the vessel was attacked by an Iranian drone, challenging the Trump administration's claim that the strait is free and open once more.
The attack, the first since the US and Iran agreed signed the MoU last week, prompted a jump in global oil prices and came as Secretary of State Marco Rubio tried to sell the agreement to skeptical Gulf nations.
This week, ship movements in the Strait of Hormuz hit their highest point since the war began in late February, with MarineTraffic data showing 70 crossings on Wednesday. Most of those vessels using a route that followed the coast of Oman, the maritime monitoring group said. Traffic dipped again on Thursday, however.
Iran sees control of the waterway as a key point of leverage in negotiations. On Thursday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp warned that safe passage would only be given to ships via routes declared to Iran.
After the attack, the Persian Gulf Strait Authority – an agency Tehran recently established to manage the strait – said safe transit would not be guaranteed. "The consequences of traveling on unauthorized routes will be the responsibility of the owner, operator, and commander of the vessel," the agency said on X.
The current agreement between Washington and Tehran includes a commitment to reopen the waterway without tolls for 60 days, and has already seen the US lift its blockade of Iranian ports. But the 14-point memorandum also grants Iran a formal role in overseeing commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz alongside Oman.
Tehran began to enforce tolls on vessels wishing to transit the strait during the conflict, something the Trump administration has vowed not to allow under a long-term peace deal.
"The reality of it is that no country on Earth has a right to charge for the use of international waterways, and that will never be an acceptable condition of any deal," Rubio said at a meeting with foreign ministers of Gulf Arab states in Bahrain on Thursday. A joint statement later said the ministers "rejected any tolls, fees, or attempts to assert control over the Strait."
Tehran, which disputes the waterway being international waters, has previously raised the prospect of charging a kind of service fee, rather than toll, alongside Oman in the future.
The memorandum is meant to halt fighting, open the Strait of Hormuz and offer economic relief to Iran in exchange for a pledge never to develop nuclear weapons - just a pledge that can easily be broken. (The US under Trump broke its own pledges and signature by wantonly withdrawing from the JCPOA, the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran, the US and Europe).
But the MoU leaves the critical details, like Tehran's nuclear program and its stocks of enriched uranium, to be hashed out over 60 days of high-stakes negotiations.
The process has been riddled with stumbling blocks – including persistent fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which threatened to derail US-Iran talks last week. Rubio has tried to separate the Israel-Lebanon talks from the US-Iran negotiations, even as Iran has repeatedly insisted that the issues are entwined. The agreement itself declared an end of fighting on all fronts, including Lebanon. But just as Iran has struck a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, the US client Israel launched airstrikes on targets near Nabatieh in southern Lebanon. It therefore seems that Iran is trying to counteract Israel's continued attacks on Lebanon by its own attacks in Hormuz.
Iran has so far succeeded in driving a wedge between Israel and the US. As long as Israel's campaign in Lebanon continues, Iran says it will not cease interdicting oil shipping in the Gulf. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is skipping Israel on his ongoing Middle East visit, which some describe as a snub of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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US strikes Iran in response to a drone attack on a ship that Trump says violated ceasefire
COLLIN BINKLEY and JON GAMBRELL
Updated Fri, June 26, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. struck Iran on Friday in response to a drone attack a day earlier on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz. It's the most significant test yet to an interim understanding reached a week ago by the two countries to begin working to end their months-long war and reopen the pivotal waterway.
U.S. President Donald Trump said the drone attack violated the ceasefire. The strikes came shortly after Trump told reporters, "You'll find out," whether the U.S. would respond.
U.S. Central Command said the military struck missile and drone locations and coastal radar sites in Iran.
"I don't like the fact that they took a shot yesterday, actually four of them," Trump said at the White House shortly before the U.S. struck back. When asked why there would be strikes when Trump has insisted talks with Tehran are going well, Trump said of Iran: "They're a little bit different."
He then abruptly cut off questions and reporters were ushered out of his office.
Ebrahim Azizi, who heads the Iranian parliament's national security commission, responded to Trump on social media earlier Friday, saying, "the Strait of Hormuz is governed by Iran, so: Respect the rules" and to "not mistake control for escalation."
"This is not a violation of the ceasefire; it is ceasefire management," Azizi wrote.
Friday evening, Vice President JD Vance said on social media that Iran should "pick up the phone" if there are disagreements about the ceasefire agreement.
"But violence will be met with violence," Vance said.
Strikes conclude an hour later
The U.S. strikes on Iran concluded about an hour after U.S. Central Command announced the military action on social media, a U.S. official with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing military operation.
The British military said on Thursday that a container ship was hit by a projectile off the coast of Oman, coming hours after Iran threatened vessels to stop using the route. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said no injuries were reported.
The development came during a fragile time for the U.S. and Iran as they work to negotiate a permanent end to the war. Iran has increasingly challenged the region and the U.S. over its control of the Strait of Hormuz, even with the current interim deal it reached with the U.S. last week.
The attack on the cargo ship happened while a United Nations maritime agency was beginning an operation to move stranded ships out of the strait this week, using an alternative route, hugging the shores of Oman rather than sailing through the central part of the strait.
The International Maritime Organization halted the evacuations after the attack and said on Friday they won't resume until there are guarantees that the other ships won't be attacked.
About 115 ships were able to move out of the strait in recent days, leaving about 500 still in the area, said Arsenio Dominguez, the agency's secretary-general.
The opening of the alternative passage through the strait was expected to relieve pressure on the world economy and remove Iran's main source of leverage in ongoing peace talks with the U.S.
The U.S. and Iran are still negotiating terms of the deal, including issues such as getting ships through the key strait and addressing the future of Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium. Under the interim deal, the two sides have 60 days to work out the details.
Cargo ship attack poses a test for shipping
Shipping analysts said the drone strike cast a shadow over what had been a growing stream of trapped vessels finally leaving the Gulf and an increasing flow of tankers carrying crude oil.
"A week of widening commercial confidence in the Strait of Hormuz has hit its first significant test," said marine data company Windward on X. It said that while the strait remains operationally open with 43 transits recorded after the incident, "the pace of normalization has slowed."
On Wednesday before Thursday's drone strike, 78 vessels transited the strait, the highest since the war began, although below the prewar averages of 130 or more per day.
At least two tankers reversed course while attempting to transit the strait on the U.N.-backed route near Oman after Iran insisted vessels use only the Teheran-approved routes, according to marine data and analytic firm Lloyd's List Intelligence.
More than two dozen ships were still transiting the strait's southern route after the attack, Lloyd's said Friday.
The U.S. strikes on Iran concluded about an hour after U.S. Central Command announced the military action on social media, a U.S. official with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing military operation.
The British military said on Thursday that a container ship was hit by a projectile off the coast of Oman, coming hours after Iran threatened vessels to stop using the route. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said no injuries were reported.
The development came during a fragile time for the U.S. and Iran as they work to negotiate a permanent end to the war. Iran has increasingly challenged the region and the U.S. over its control of the Strait of Hormuz, even with the current interim deal it reached with the U.S. last week.
The attack on the cargo ship happened while a United Nations maritime agency was beginning an operation to move stranded ships out of the strait this week, using an alternative route, hugging the shores of Oman rather than sailing through the central part of the strait.
The International Maritime Organization halted the evacuations after the attack and said on Friday they won't resume until there are guarantees that the other ships won't be attacked.
About 115 ships were able to move out of the strait in recent days, leaving about 500 still in the area, said Arsenio Dominguez, the agency's secretary-general.
The opening of the alternative passage through the strait was expected to relieve pressure on the world economy and remove Iran's main source of leverage in ongoing peace talks with the U.S.
The U.S. and Iran are still negotiating terms of the deal, including issues such as getting ships through the key strait and addressing the future of Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium. Under the interim deal, the two sides have 60 days to work out the details.
Cargo ship attack poses a test for shipping
Shipping analysts said the drone strike cast a shadow over what had been a growing stream of trapped vessels finally leaving the Gulf and an increasing flow of tankers carrying crude oil.
"A week of widening commercial confidence in the Strait of Hormuz has hit its first significant test," said marine data company Windward on X. It said that while the strait remains operationally open with 43 transits recorded after the incident, "the pace of normalization has slowed."
On Wednesday before Thursday's drone strike, 78 vessels transited the strait, the highest since the war began, although below the prewar averages of 130 or more per day.
At least two tankers reversed course while attempting to transit the strait on the U.N.-backed route near Oman after Iran insisted vessels use only the Teheran-approved routes, according to marine data and analytic firm Lloyd's List Intelligence.
More than two dozen ships were still transiting the strait's southern route after the attack, Lloyd's said Friday.
Lebanon and Israel make a step toward peace
Ambassadors from Israel and Lebanon announced an agreement Friday described as a step toward peace following months of conflict between Israeli troops and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Nada Hamadeh, Lebanon's ambassador to the U.S., called the framework a move toward "enabling our people to go back to their land and allowing all Lebanese to live in peace, security, and prosperity."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the plan was a "great achievement" for Israel.
"The most important thing, first and foremost, is that Israel will remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon," he said, adding that they will stay until Hezbollah is disarmed and no longer poses a threat to Israel.
___
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Ben Finley, Michelle L. Price and Josh Boak in Washington, David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed to this report.
Ambassadors from Israel and Lebanon announced an agreement Friday described as a step toward peace following months of conflict between Israeli troops and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Nada Hamadeh, Lebanon's ambassador to the U.S., called the framework a move toward "enabling our people to go back to their land and allowing all Lebanese to live in peace, security, and prosperity."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the plan was a "great achievement" for Israel.
"The most important thing, first and foremost, is that Israel will remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon," he said, adding that they will stay until Hezbollah is disarmed and no longer poses a threat to Israel.
___
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Ben Finley, Michelle L. Price and Josh Boak in Washington, David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed to this report.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran launched a drone assault targeting Bahrain while a ship in the Strait of Hormuz separately came under attack Saturday, likely Tehran's response to overnight airstrikes by the United States.The attacks across the Persian Gulf show the danger of the Iran war again spinning out of control, even after Iran and the U.S. reached an interim deal to try and agree on a final accord to end the conflict.
The U.S. had launched its airstrikes in response to an Iranian drone attack on a ship trying to get out of the strait on Thursday, continuing a string of attacks that have shaken the uneasy ceasefire in the war.
Meanwhile, a multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Saturday that it would expand a route near Oman in the strait to allow for both inbound and outbound traffic — likely setting up a new flashpoint with Tehran.
Bahrain condemns Iran's drone attack
That Iran targeted Bahrain likely was not coincidental. The kingdom has been one of the strongest critics of Iran and is home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. It just hosted U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio for a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council's foreign ministers, which ended with a call for an end to Iran's attacks and the strait to be completely open.
A statement from Bahrain's Foreign Ministry said a "number of Iranian drones" targeted the country. It called the attack "a flagrant threat to the security of citizens and residents."
Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard earlier on Saturday issued a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency saying it had targeted several locations "of the U.S. terrorist army in the region."
It did not name what areas were targeted.
The U.S. military's Central Command said the military struck Iranian missile and drone locations and coastal radar sites in the overnight strikes.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who has led the American negotiations with Iran, said on social media Friday night that Iran should "pick up the phone" if there are disagreements about the ceasefire agreement.
"But violence will be met with violence," Vance said.
The U.S. and Iran are still negotiating terms of the deal, including issues such as getting ships through the key strait and addressing the future of Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium. Under the interim deal, the two sides have 60 days to work out the details.
Ship comes under attack as strait route expands
Meanwhile, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said that a tanker was attacked Saturday in the strait, saying the crew was safe and no environmental damage was reported. No one immediately claimed the strike, but suspicion immediately fell on Iran.
Just after the report of the ship attack, the Joint Maritime Information Center, overseen by the U.S. Navy, said the route near Oman's shores is expanding to allow for both inbound and outbound traffic.
Iran has insisted ships must obey its orders and is warning it will start charging fees for transit through the strait, through which a fifth of all oil and natural gas once passed. However, ships have been increasingly trying to get out of the Gulf in recent days, to Iran's ire.
Ebrahim Azizi, who heads the Iranian parliament's national security commission, wrote Friday that "the Strait of Hormuz is governed by Iran, so: Respect the rules."
The U.S. and Gulf Arab states have rejected Iran's demands. The strait is considered around the world as an international waterway, despite being the territorial waters of Iran and Oman.
In its announcement, the Joint Maritime Information Center warned that the threat in the region to ships was "substantial."
"Mariners are advised of the existence of mines and should expect a naval presence as clearance operations continue," it said.
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