Persian Gulf

Iran pursued its strategy of economic warfare on Thursday, attacking two oil tankers in the Persian Gulf and repeating its threats to cut off oil shipments through the vital trade route.

Iran struck Gulf infrastructure on Sunday, hitting fuel tanks at Kuwait’s international airport and damaging a desalination plant in Bahrain as Tehran pressed its missile and drone campaign against its neighbours into a second week.

The United States is “winning decisively, devastatingly, and without mercy” in Operation Epic Fury just four days into the campaign against Iran, according to War Secretary Pete Hegseth, who said Tehran’s missile, air, and naval capabilities are rapidly “evaporating.”

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is threatening to “burn” any oil tanker that attempts to sail through the Strait of Hormuz.

Thousands of cruise line passengers are trapped in ports in the Persian Gulf due to ongoing military strikes in the Middle East.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced Saturday the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz was closed to all shipping traffic.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) held military drills on Tuesday, reportedly including tests for new weapons, even as top military official Ali Larijani was preparing to deliver Iran’s latest response in negotiations with the United States, and President Donald Trump was preparing to deliver his State of the Union (SOTU) address.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated terrorist organization, said on Thursday that it seized two vessels in the Persian Gulf that were allegedly carrying smuggled fuel. Later that day, a former Iranian official threatened to turn the Strait of Hormuz into a “place of massacre and hell” if there is a conflict with the United States.

Iran claims the drone shot down by the USS Abraham Lincoln was conducting a “routine and lawful mission over international waters.”

Iran’s top customer for oil, China, massively increased its purchases in the first three weeks of June just before Israel began striking Iranian nuclear sites.

Threats to commercial vessels around the Arabian Peninsula are growing after U.S. airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

Saudi international relations expert Dr. Salem Alyami told Saudi news network Al Arabiya on Wednesday that the Kingdom’s major diplomatic concern at the moment is containing the Iran-Israel conflict to keep the rest of the Middle East from destabilizing.

Iran has “domination” over American interests in the region and can strike the U.S. in “less than half a day,” according to a senior Iranian Ayatollah who called for “blood vengeance” against the United States for numerous “American crimes,” following Hamas terrorist leader Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination in the heart of Tehran last week.

Iran confirmed on Wednesday it would seize the oil aboard the Advantage Sweet, a cargo ship the regime seized in the Persian Gulf in April alleging it had been involved in a maritime collision.

The deployment follows the seizure of an Israeli-linked cargo vessel by Iranian-backed Yemeni Huthis in the Red Sea on November 19.

Steer clear of Iranian territorial waters. That was the simple message to international shipping companies Saturday as U.S./Iran tensions over the strategic Strait of Hormuz continue to escalate.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday announced that it quietly withdrew from a U.S.-led security coalition called the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) two months ago.

Iran’s president on Tuesday used the country’s annual Army Day to repeat blood curdling threats to destroy Israel while adding for good measure a demand the U.S. exit the Middle East immediately.

SINIYAH ISLAND, United Arab Emirates — An ancient Christian monastery possibly dating as far back as the years before Islam spread across the Arabian Peninsula has been discovered on an island off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, officials announced Thursday.

A top spokesman for the Iran-backed Houthi terrorist movement in Yemen threatened attacks on international oil tankers this weekend after the legitimate government of the country revealed a Houthi attack on the al-Dhabba oil terminal.

Six Persian Gulf states have threatened Netflix with legal action if it continues broadcasting content found “offensive” to Islamic sensibilities, apparently targeting programs that show people who are gay and lesbian.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Monday that two B-52H Stratofortress nuclear-capable bombers flew across the Middle East on Sunday in a Bomber Task Force (BTF) mission that included fighter escort planes from the United Kingdom, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and briefly Israel.

Iran has “immense naval power” that enables it to project force into the contested waters of the Strait of Hormuz and beyond. That is the unalloyed warning from the commander in chief of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Major General Hossein Salami, to both the U.S. Navy and the “old fox” British Royal Navy.

A U.S. Navy warship fired a warning flare early Tuesday to repel a speedboat from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) during a tense encounter in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei acknowledged Saturday that Iran took the oil from two Greek tankers last month in helicopter-launched raids in the Persian Gulf.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard is building a massive new support ship near the strategic Strait of Hormuz as it tries to expand its naval presence in waters vital to international energy supplies and beyond, satellite photos obtained by The Associated Press show.

The upcoming “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” — Marvel’s sequel to the hit 2016 superhero film “Doctor Strange” — has been banned in Saudi Arabia over a key LGBTQ superhero in the movie.

The cargo ship Al Salmi 6 sank in the Persian Gulf Thursday, and according to reports one of the thirty crew members remains unaccounted for.

NICE, France — French President Emmanuel Macron is visiting the energy-rich Persian Gulf Friday, hoping to seal a major arms contract after this fall’s Australian submarine deal debacle and to strengthen France’s role in the region.

Following an Iranian drone attack on an Israel-operated oil tanker in international waters off the coast of Oman that left two dead last week, Iranian advocacy group Iranian Americans for Liberty released a statement blasting the Biden administration’s “weak” response and calling on the president to “get tough.”

FUJAIRAH, United Arab Emirates (AP) – The hijackers who captured a vessel off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf of Oman departed the targeted ship on Wednesday, the British navy reported, as recorded radio traffic appeared to reveal a crew member onboard saying Iranian gunmen had stormed the asphalt tanker.

Russia is ready to enhance Iran’s spying capabilities by giving the Islamic republic access to an advanced satellite system, according to a U.S. media report.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Tuesday they warned U.S. Navy vessels to watch their behavior after Washington said warning shots were fired near Iranian fast attack boats, the latest confrontation between the rivals in the Persian Gulf.

Iran’s Navy Commander, Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi, said Thursday no foreign warships would dare enter its territorial waters because of the nation’s seaborne superiority, promising a “grinding response” awaits any intruders that tried.

Iran claims the right to retaliate over an alleged Israeli attack on one of its ships, the regime’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

A U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber joined escort aircraft of Israel, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in a flight over the Persian Gulf, in a show of force aimed at Iran.