2 min readUpdated: Jul 8, 2026 08:17 AM IST

The United States military launched another round of “retaliatory strikes” against Iran early Wednesday, hours after three merchant ships were struck in the Strait of Hormuz. Without going into the specifics, the US military said that it has struck 80 targets. The fresh escalation in the latest exchange of fire is now threatening the interim deal aimed at ending the conflict between the two countries.

The strikes came amid the ongoing funeral for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a joint US-Israel strike at the beginning of the war.

The crisis escalation has again made the global markets jittery, with oil prices rising again.

In a statement posted on social media, the U.S. Central Command said American forces launched the strikes “to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway.”

One US official said the military was targeting air defence systems, coastal surveillance systems, ground-to-air missiles, launch sites for anti-ship cruise missiles and drones. Iranian port facilities were also being targeted, the official said.

A second US official said the attacks would likely last for hours and were intended to hit around eight times more targets than the previous round of retaliatory strikes carried out at the end of June.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said in a post on X that the US attacks violated the interim agreement. A similar round of Iranian attacks on shipping and US retaliation occurred late last month. The latest strikes were also notable for taking place while President Donald Trump was in Turkey for a NATO summit.

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