The war situation in the Middle East has taken a new and dangerous turn. On Wednesday (15 July), US forces carried out heavy airstrikes on Iranian military targets and Washington reimposed a naval blockade on Iran’s ports.
In response, Tehran launched retaliatory missile and drone attacks on three Gulf countries, and declared that it would keep the Strait of Hormuz — one of the world’s most important oil-supply routes — fully closed until the US aggression stopped.
The attacks and counter-attacks came just hours after US President Donald Trump backed away from his proposed 20 percent toll on ships using the Strait of Hormuz.
The price of crude oil on the world market has already risen by more than 10 percent as a result of the conflict.
Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the fresh US blockade had halted Iran’s oil and gas exports to the world market, and in response warned that it would also close the routes of the United States’ allies.
In a statement, the IRGC said: “The region’s oil and gas exports will either be open for all, or for no one.”
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said the US decision to impose the blockade had completely broken the interim “Islamabad memorandum” from last month’s peace talks.
On the fifth day of the conflict, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it had struck about a dozen military bases along Iran’s coast and near the strait to ensure the safety of commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian media confirmed reports of massive explosions in the port city of Bandar Abbas, on Kish Island and at Bandar Imam Khomeini.
Immediately after the US strikes, sirens sounded in Bahrain, while Kuwait and Jordan claimed to have intercepted Iranian drones and missiles in their airspace. Iran’s news agency IRNA said the IRGC had carried out successful drone and missile strikes on a US fighter-jet base in Jordan and on US installations in Bahrain and Kuwait.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report