DUBAI, July 21 — Iran struck a commercial tanker in the Strait of Hormuz early Tuesday, forcing its crew to abandon the vessel, as the United States carried out a tenth consecutive night of airstrikes against Iranian positions, deepening a conflict that has now paralyzed one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes and driven crude prices to their highest levels in months.
The Malta-flagged tanker “Kavomaleas” was hit by a projectile while anchored off the coast of Oman, according to shipping incident reports. Its crew was rescued by a tugboat after abandoning ship. Hours earlier, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced it had detonated two tankers that had strayed into what it described as “unsafe navigation zones” in the strait.
Benchmark Brent crude surged nearly 4 percent in overnight trading, briefly breaking above $90 per barrel before settling around $89.22 — a level not seen since the collapse of a short-lived truce last month. U.S. gasoline prices have climbed back to an average of $4 a gallon for the first time since June 17, adding fresh pressure on American consumers ahead of the fall midterm elections.
The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said its latest wave of strikes targeted military command centers, air defense installations, coastal surveillance facilities, and missile and drone launch sites. But the campaign has expanded beyond purely military infrastructure. Iranian state media reported that a power and desalination plant in Hormozgan province was struck on Saturday, destroying the Bonji facility and cutting water supply to roughly 10,000 people. At least three bridges were hit, including one leading to Bandar Abbas — Iran’s most important port on the strait.
Iran has retaliated beyond the waters of the Gulf. Over the weekend, the Revolutionary Guard claimed a cross-border strike on a command center in Syria. Missile attacks also reached Kuwait for the second time in two days, targeting a power and desalination facility. Both Kuwait and Bahrain activated air defense systems as alerts sounded across the Gulf.
President Donald Trump, in a social media post on Monday, declared that Iran would “pay many times over” for every American soldier killed — a reference to the confirmed deaths of at least four U.S. service members in recent days — including one killed in Iraq during the disposal of a downed Iranian drone — with a fifth missing in Jordan. Trump was scheduled to attend a dignified transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base on Tuesday evening for the arrival of remains.
Diplomatic channels, however, have not been entirely severed. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told reporters on Monday that intermediaries continue to exchange messages and that Tehran was open to negotiations based on its national interests. That brief signal of a potential off-ramp helped temper the oil rally, though markets remain on edge.
The Houthi movement in Yemen, aligned with Iran, announced its own maritime blockade against Saudi Arabia on Monday, threatening to close the Bab el-Mandeb strait — the southern gateway to the Red Sea through which millions of barrels of crude pass daily. In response, Saudi Arabia has been aggressively rerouting oil through its East-West pipeline to Red Sea terminals, which have served as a critical buffer for global markets throughout the crisis.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Iran of “weaponizing” the Strait of Hormuz and called on Asian energy-importing nations to contribute financially to maritime security operations. “The United States will do what is necessary to protect global shipping,” he said, “but others must now start bearing more of the burden.”
With both sides escalating and no clear path to a renewed ceasefire, the conflict has entered its most dangerous phase since hostilities resumed. Shipping through the strait — which in peacetime carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s traded crude oil and natural gas — has largely ground to a halt. At least two seafarers have been killed and more than a dozen wounded this month alone. For European consumers, $90 Brent means rising fuel costs ahead of winter; for the global economy, it means the specter of a supply shock at a moment when central banks were beginning to see inflation ease.