Tehran also struck US military assets in Bahrain, Jordan, and Kuwait while vowing continued responses to Washington’s renewed aggression
The Emirati government said on 14 July that two of its tankers were struck by Iranian cruise missiles while attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz, as Tehran continued its “ongoing” retaliatory campaign in response to US escalation.
“National tankers Mombasa and Al-Bahiyah were targeted by two Iranian cruise missiles while transiting the southern shipping lane of the Strait of Hormuz, within Omani territorial waters,” said the UAE Defense Ministry.
An Indian crewmember was killed and eight others wounded on the Mombasa vessel, the ministry added.
“The attack also caused material damage to both tankers as a result of the fires that broke out on board, which have since been brought under control,” it went on to say.
Abu Dhabi condemned the “blatant attack” as a “serious violation and a clear breach of international law that threatens the security and stability of the region.”
It also asserted its “full right” to “respond” to the “escalation.” A new tanker was hit by a missile southeast of Limah, Oman on Tuesday as well, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).
The strikes on the Emirati vessels came as part of a new wave of Tehran’s retaliatory operations across the region, launched in response to the recent US attacks on the Islamic Republic.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it targeted multiple US military sites across the region, as well as tankers violating the Strait of Hormuz regulations.
“Two violating supertankers were deceived by the US, ignored repeated warnings from the Strait of Hormuz shipping security control center, switched off their navigation systems – choosing to pass through a mined corridor, endangering maritime traffic,” the IRGC said.
The IRGC also renewed warnings to regional states regarding “cooperation with the aggressor enemy.”
As part of a new operation launched under the codename Operation Victory II, Iran also targeted US military infrastructure in Bahrain, including weapons warehouses and a satellite communications center.
The IRGC announced further missile and drone strikes against the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, adding that it set fuel storage facilities ablaze and destroyed Patriot radar systems, the fleet’s air-control radar, an early warning C-RAM radar system, and a command and monitoring center for unmanned guided boats.
The IRGC also announced strikes on US sites in Jordan.
It stressed that retaliatory operations remain “ongoing.”
Additionally, the Iranian military announced drone strikes on air defense systems, fuel depots, and ammunition storage sites in Kuwait.
The army said its operations will continue in response to US escalation. This came as heavy US attacks hit multiple areas of Iran for the third night in a row.
US President Donald Trump has formally notified Congress that the war on Iran has resumed, in a move his administration says initiates a new 60-day period during which the military can operate in the region without congressional authorization.
“I directed this military action consistent with my responsibility to protect Americans and US national security and foreign policy interests,” Trump wrote in a letter cited by Reuters.
Brutal US attacks hit Iran late on Monday and in the following hours, for the third consecutive night.
Footage showed the aftermath of violent US strikes on the Islamic Republic, including in Iran’s Kish Island, the city of Saravan, and the country’s coast – where civilian boats were set ablaze by Washington’s attacks.
A ranger station and a fodder storage facility were targeted. As a result, the family of a park ranger – including his two sons and his daughter-in-law – were killed.
Trump has reinstated the illegal blockade on Iranian ports and has declared Washington the “Guardian of Hormuz.”
“We’re going to hit them very hard tonight and we’re going to hit them hard tomorrow – and there’s not a damn thing they can do about it. They have nothing. They have nothing going other than they have big mouths … I got to know them, and they’re stone cold crazy,” Trump told Fox News on 13 July.
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