'We're beating them up': Trump as US strikes IRGC boats, missiles around Strait of Hormuz

The cycle of strikes and counter-strikes between the United States and Iran widened significantly on Sunday, with American forces targeting Iranian military assets around the Strait of Hormuz while Tehran launched attacks on US-linked facilities across multiple Gulf states, including Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman.

According to Axios, citing a senior US official, American forces struck Iranian missile systems, air defence sites, and IRGC speedboats at several locations around the strategic waterway. US Central Command confirmed the operation, describing it as an effort to reduce Iran's capability to threaten commercial shipping through the strait and hold Iranian forces "accountable" on President Trump's orders.

Speaking to Reuters in a brief phone call, Trump was characteristically blunt about the latest action. "We're beating them up," he said.

Explosions reported across southern Iran

Shortly after the strikes, explosions were heard in Bandar Abbas, Iran's largest port city. Qeshm Island also came under attack, with Qeshm Governor Hossein Amir Teymouri confirming that 10 to 11 "enemy projectiles" had struck the island, adding that all targets were military facilities and that no civilian casualties had been reported.

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported that a US strike on a water pumping station in the southwestern city of Mahshahr killed one person and injured four others. It also reported that a maintenance worker was killed "while performing his duties" and two others were injured during strikes in Hormozgan province.

US Central Command spokesperson Tim Hawkins told CNN that American aircraft intercepted and destroyed an Iranian cruise missile and a one-way attack drone during the operation.

The Hormuz standoff

The waterway has become the central battleground of the conflict. Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority, established earlier this year to manage shipping through the strait, declared that vessels would not be permitted to pass because of what it described as "recent illegal movements of the United States military forces in the region." It said transit requests would only be considered "as soon as stability and calm are restored."

Washington rejected the claim. "Iran does not control the strait. Traffic is flowing," CENTCOM said, adding that American forces remained in position to protect freedom of navigation despite what it described as Iranian "aggression, harassment, threats, and arbitrary declarations."

Iran widens the battlefield

While the US focused its strikes around the strait, Iran broadened its response across the Gulf. The IRGC claimed it had targeted command-and-control facilities and drone hangars in Jordan, a US radar installation and HIMARS missile launcher systems in Kuwait, aircraft carrier support and refuelling platforms in Oman, and a jet maintenance centre and command facility in Qatar.

The consequences were felt across the region. Kuwait's Defence Ministry described a "criminal attack" that damaged three northern border centres and an offshore oil drilling platform, injuring one worker. Qatar blamed Iran after falling missile debris wounded three people including a child, stating Tehran was "fully legally responsible." The UAE said its air defences intercepted missiles and drones outside its borders. Bahrain reported shooting down several Iranian aerial threats, Jordan confirmed missile strikes, and Oman said parts of the country were targeted by drones.

Diplomacy running out of road

The latest escalation has further eroded what little diplomatic ground remained. Iran and the US were only midway through a 60-day interim agreement intended to lay the groundwork for a permanent peace deal when hostilities resumed. Trump has since said he considers the ceasefire effectively over, though he has left the door to future negotiations nominally open.

The fighting came just a day after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Omani counterpart Badr Albusaidi in Muscat for talks on the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's Foreign Ministry said the negotiations failed to produce an agreement because of what it described as "overt and covert" pressure from Washington on Oman. Araqchi also held a phone call with Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, one of the key intermediaries in the US-Iran channel.