The exchanges underscored the fragility of a Pakistan-brokered agreement aimed at ending the war launched by the United States and Israel in February, which disrupted shipping through the strait and rattled global energy markets.
This aerial photograph shows boats anchored off Oman’s northern Musandam Peninsula near the Strait of Hormuz on June 27, 2026. (Photo by – / AFP)
Iran’s top diplomat warned Sunday that any attempt by shipping to bypass its preferred route through the Strait of Hormuz would “increase tensions” in the Middle East, as US and Iranian forces again traded attacks across the vital seaway.
The exchanges underscored the fragility of a Pakistan-brokered agreement aimed at ending the war launched by the United States and Israel in February, which disrupted shipping through the strait and rattled global energy markets.
This aerial photograph shows boats anchored off Oman’s northern Musandam Peninsula near the Strait of Hormuz on June 27, 2026. (Photo by – / AFP
Although a ceasefire took effect in April, sporadic violence has continued in the Gulf region, with ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz often the spark.
Early on Sunday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it had attacked 10 Iranian military targets over “continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping”.
Iran then said it had carried out retaliatory strikes against US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain in response. Both Kuwait and Bahrain denounced the attacks.
READ ALSO: Iran Closes Hormuz Again Over Israel Renewed Strikes On Lebanon
Tehran has continued to insist on controlling passage through the vital strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas travel in normal times, something it did not have before the war.
At the moment, Iran insists ships transiting the strait pass through a corridor close to its own shores, though this week dozens of vessels have travelled along the opposite side of the waterway, hugging the Omani coast.
“Any attempt to adopt new or separate arrangements compared to what is underway by the Islamic Republic of Iran will only lead to more complicated situations and delays in the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and will increase the tensions,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.
“I urge all parties… to adhere to the memorandum of understanding and not to allow this MoU to deviate from its course.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Sunday they were taking measures to control traffic in the strait and that vessels in violation of those measures would be dealt with more firmly than before.
Mohammad Mokhber, adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, wrote on X that as long as Iran managed the strait, Washington’s “hegemonic dreams in the region will not be realised”.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said Sunday that Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon was “an essential condition for reaching a final and lasting agreement” that establishes security in the region.
Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, meanwhile, said Iran was “seriously pursuing this issue” of ending the Israeli occupation in Lebanon in a call with Lebanese speaker of parliament Nabih Berri.
On Sunday, Lebanese state media reported a new Israeli strike on the country’s south, while the Israeli military said a soldier was killed in fighting in southern Lebanon.
