US Airstrikes Hit Northern Iran        07/16 06:10

   The United States intensified its strikes targeting Iran early Thursday, 
hitting targets further north as American forces also fired into a ship it 
accused of trying to break its naval blockade on the Islamic Republic. Iran 
retaliated with missile and drone fire targeting Bahrain and Kuwait before dawn.

   DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- The United States intensified its 
strikes targeting Iran early Thursday, hitting targets further north as 
American forces also fired into a ship it accused of trying to break its naval 
blockade on the Islamic Republic. Iran retaliated with missile and drone fire 
targeting Bahrain and Kuwait before dawn.

   Days of back-and-forth strikes by the U.S. and Iran across the Middle East 
-- and renewed threats to the Strait of Hormuz -- have shredded the interim 
deal to end the Iran war and could tip the region back into all-out war. 
Already, Iranian officials say U.S. strikes have killed more than 35 people and 
wounded more than 300 others. Strikes also reached into areas around Iran's 
capital, Tehran, for the first time of this latest round of violence.

   When the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran 
effectively closed the strait to shipping traffic -- a move that sent the price 
of oil, fertilizer and many other goods soaring far beyond the region and gave 
Iran major leverage in negotiations.

   US and Iran trade threats as attacks intensify

   Those rising prices pose a particular challenge to U.S. President Donald 
Trump and his Republican Party, which hopes to retain control of Congress in 
elections in November. But Washington has struggled to successfully reopen the 
waterway, leading to Trump reimposing the naval blockade Wednesday.

   Iran's parliament speaker and lead negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said 
Iran was prepared for a fuller military confrontation if the U.S. does not live 
up to the terms of the interim deal, and Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary 
Guard threatened to halt all energy exports from the Middle East over the 
blockade.

   "The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or 
for no one," the Guard said.

   Trump again insisted Iran was ready to strike a peace deal, but he did not 
elaborate.

   "They don't like what we're doing, and they do want to settle. We'll find 
out whether or not we settle with them, or we just finish it off," he said 
Wednesday at the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania.

   Trump separately said on social media that Tehran made a goodwill gesture by 
releasing an American citizen wrongly detained in Iran since 2024. He didn't 
release further details. Human rights lawyer Jared Genser released a statement 
identifying the detainee as his client Dena Karari, a U.S.-Iranian citizen who 
runs a nonprofit and was charged with espionage.

   Iran did not immediately acknowledge the release and her case hadn't been 
publicly known, which sometimes happens with detentions in the Islamic Republic.

   Both the US and Iran launch attacks as the blockade is reimposed

   The U.S. strikes early Thursday hit around Tehran, state media reported. It 
also reported American attacks targeted Semnan province, home to Iran's 
ballistic missile production and space program.

   On Wednesday, the U.S. resumed striking Iran during daylight -- further 
showing the increasing tempo of the attacks. Its attack on Greater Tunb Island, 
a strategic point in the Strait of Hormuz -- targeted Iranian defense and 
missile sites, Central Command said.

   Meanwhile, the U.S. military said it opened fire on the Curacao-flagged oil 
tanker Belma sailing toward Kharg Island, Iran's main oil export terminal in 
the Persian Gulf. After the ship "ignored multiple warnings," a U.S. aircraft 
disabled the merchant vessel by firing a missile into the ship's smokestack.

   Another American strike Wednesday targeted a barracks for Iran's 388th 
Mechanized Infantry Brigade, which operates tanks and armored vehicles, in 
Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iranian state television reported. The report 
said Americans fired at least 13 missiles in the attack and the seven dead 
included conscripts and career soldiers. A number of troops were wounded.

   The Strait of Hormuz remains at the heart of the fighting

   The latest round of fighting is focused on the Strait of Hormuz. How to 
reopen the strait has bedeviled the U.S. since Iran choked it off in the early 
days of the war.

   During the interim deal, some ships began moving through the passage using a 
route near Oman overseen by the U.S. military that is outside Tehran's control.

   In recent days, Iran attacked ships using that route -- and back-and-forth 
attacks ensued. The U.S. has threatened to reopen the strait by force -- but 
experts say that would require a much bigger armada if not tens of thousands of 
ground troops. Imposing the blockade is another way to put pressure on Iran.

   But in the meantime, oil prices are rising. The price for Brent crude oil, 
the international standard, traded above $85 a barrel on Thursday -- more than 
15% higher than the price before the war, but still well below the nearly $120 
reached at the height of the conflict.