The United States carried out multiple waves of airstrikes against Iran early Monday, targeting military infrastructure in response to Tehran’s recent attack on a commercial container ship in the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran retaliated by launching missiles and drones at several countries hosting US military forces across the Middle East.

The latest escalation marks one of the most intense exchanges since the conflict began earlier this year, raising fresh concerns about regional stability despite ongoing diplomatic efforts aimed at securing a lasting ceasefire.

According to the US Central Command (CENTCOM), approximately 140 targets were struck during the operation, including missile and drone launch sites, ammunition depots, communications facilities and other military installations.

“The Strait of Hormuz is a vital maritime corridor for global trade,” CENTCOM said in a statement.

“Iran does not control it. US forces are postured and prepared to ensure that freedom of navigation remains available to commercial shipping despite Iran’s continued unwarranted aggression, harassment, threats and arbitrary declarations.”

President Donald Trump defended the operation, saying in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press: “We bombed the hell out of them last night.”

Iranian state media reported explosions in several locations across the country early Monday and said at least one person had been killed in the strikes.

In response, Iran launched missiles and drones toward several Gulf states, triggering air defence systems across the region.

Missile warning sirens sounded in Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, while Kuwait said its air defence systems intercepted incoming projectiles. There were no immediate reports of casualties or significant damage.

Iran’s retaliatory strikes also targeted Qatar, which has played a key role in mediating ceasefire negotiations, as well as the United Arab Emirates, whose military said its air defences successfully intercepted Iranian missiles and drones.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard confirmed it had begun retaliatory operations following the US attacks.

The Strait of Hormuz remains at the centre of the crisis. The strategic waterway, through which a significant portion of the world’s oil and natural gas exports pass, has become the main point of contention in negotiations between Washington and Tehran.

Iran has insisted it has the authority to control access to the strait and has threatened to impose charges on vessels using the route. The United States maintains that international shipping must continue without interference.

“The era of one-sided deals is over,” Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf wrote on social media.

“We told you: keep your word or pay the price. Reality is knocking.”

Although Iran has declared the strait closed, US officials insist commercial shipping remains possible under the protection of American naval forces, which have established alternative routes closer to Oman’s coastline.

The continued attacks on vessels transiting the area have disrupted global shipping and energy markets, although oil prices have retreated from earlier wartime highs.

The latest military action comes as international mediators continue efforts to preserve a 60-day interim agreement intended to pave the way for a permanent end to hostilities.

Pakistan, Qatar and Egypt remain engaged in diplomatic efforts to prevent the conflict from widening.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned that renewed large-scale fighting would have severe consequences for the region.

“A return to full-scale hostilities would have catastrophic consequences,” Guterres said.

Meanwhile, Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, issued his first public statement since succeeding his late father, vowing that Iran would avenge the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and continue resisting what he described as foreign aggression.

The US military launched fresh strikes on Iran after it struck a container ship on Sunday, ‌while Tehran said it had again closed the Strait of Hormuz and escalated attacks on US facilities in states across the Gulf, Reuters reported.

A series of attacks between the US and Iran over the past several days led President Donald Trump to declare the end of a ceasefire meant to halt the fighting that the US and Israel began on February 28, though Trump has left the door open to continued negotiations.

Iran said it closed the strait after firing a warning ​shot that struck a vessel traveling on an unapproved route. It warned that any retaliation over the incident would be met with a “severe response.”

US Central Command, however, said commercial ​vessels continue to transit through the waterway that carried one-fifth of the world’s oil and LNG shipments before the war.

Central Command said US forces hit 140 Iranian military targets on Saturday, out of more than 300 during three nights of strikes “to degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial vessels ​freely transiting the strait.”

Iranian state media reported explosions in a number of port cities.

In response, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday they had destroyed a command and control center and drone hangars at ​a base in US ally Jordan, targeted a US military radar site in Kuwait, attacked US aircraft carrier support and refueling platforms in Oman and destroyed a fighter jet maintenance centre and command and control facility in Qatar.

The Guards also said they had struck and disabled a second vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, read the report.

The United Arab Emirates said its air defense systems engaged missiles and drones from Iran, while warning sirens sounded in Bahrain and ​explosions were heard in Doha.

Tehran’s strikes marked a sharp escalation in pace and targets. In recent weeks, Iran had hit sites in Kuwait and Bahrain while avoiding Qatar since early April and ​the UAE since early May.

The war has destabilized the Gulf, while Iran’s effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has caused energy prices to surge, fuelling global inflation and raising fears of an economic slowdown.

Higher prices, ‌especially for ⁠gasoline, are a politically sensitive issue for Trump ahead of November congressional elections.

Iran said several ships attempted to move through the waterway on an “unauthorized route” and disregarded warnings to correct their course. The strait will remain closed until “the end of US interference in this region,” the Revolutionary Guards said.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has accused the United States of violating the ceasefire agreement. “There can only be mutual compliance,” he wrote on X on Friday.

On Sunday, Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf posted on X: “The era of one-sided deals is OVER. We told ​you: keep your word or pay the price. ​Reality is knocking.”

The US revoked the license authorizing ⁠the sale of Iranian crude on Tuesday after three Qatari and Saudi commercial tankers came under fire earlier in the week, prompting the US to hit Iranian sites. Iran then struck US military sites in Gulf states, Reuters reported.

While Iran has not claimed responsibility for the ship attacks, analysts say Tehran uses ​such actions to gain leverage in negotiations.

Araqchi and Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi met in Oman to exchange “views on appropriate mechanisms for the ​safe passage of ships through ⁠the Strait of Hormuz,” according to a statement from the Iranian foreign minister. Oman’s state news agency said Omani and Iranian negotiators would continue talks “at the technical and political levels.”

A written statement from Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, on Saturday threatened vengeance for the death of his predecessor and father, who was killed in the war’s initial attacks. It said the vengeance would take place whatever happened to ⁠Iran.

“We pledge to ​avenge the blood of the martyred leader and all the martyrs,” the message said.

The statement was released to mark ​funeral ceremonies for the former leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Thursday. His son did not attend the ceremonies and has not been seen in public since the war began.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said ​on Saturday that ‌avenging his slain predecessor and father was “the demand of ​the nation” and “must ​certainly” take place, according to ⁠a written message ​published on the official website of Ayatollah Khamenei.

Khamenei issued the message on the occasion of funeral ceremonies for ​his father, Ayatollah ​Ali Khamenei, held months after he ‌was ⁠killed in the U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on February 28.

“We pledge to avenge ​the blood ​of ⁠the martyred leader and all the ​martyrs of these ​two ⁠wars from the criminal and disgraced killers,” Khamenei ⁠said ​in the ​message.

“The criminals will take their dream of a peaceful death in bed to the grave with them,” he added.

Mojtaba Khamenei also expressed appreciation for the attendance of tens of millions of mourners from Iran and Iraq.