By Enas Alashray, Elwely Elwelly, Tala Ramadan and Katharine Jackson
CAIRO/DUBAI/WASHINGTON, July 14 (Reuters) – Iran fired ballistic missiles at a U.S. air base in Jordan on Tuesday and the United States attacked Iranian targets for five hours in a battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz that has pushed up oil prices to four-week highs.
U.S. forces launched waves of attacks for the third successive night after Iran said on Saturday it was closing the strait, prompting U.S. President Donald Trump to reinstate a blockade of Iranian shipping and propose charging a 20% fee to guard the vital waterway.
The strikes have increased doubts that an interim deal agreed last month will lead to a permanent halt in a more than four-month-old war that has disrupted global energy supplies and raised fears of a rise in inflation across the world.
Regional analysts said the hostilities remained within controlled boundaries for now, with both sides seeking leverage for an eventual peace deal, but that there was still a risk of fighting spinning out of control.
“I doubt the two sides will resume a full war, especially as Trump will suffer — though there is also a distinct possibility that the Iranians will overplay their hand. That is true of Trump too, of course,” said Yezid Sayigh, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center.
The war has proved unpopular in the U.S., where gasoline prices have risen since the start of the war, with congressional elections looming in November.
Oil prices rose again on Tuesday, with Brent crude futures hitting more than $86 per barrel, but were still well below the peak since the war began.
US AIR BASE IN JORDAN ATTACKED
The U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, and Iran attacked Israel and Gulf states that host U.S. bases. The war also reignited conflict between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. It killed thousands and displaced millions, the vast majority in Iran and Lebanon.
Lebanon and Israel were set to resume talks on Tuesday in Rome, with Beirut seeking progress towards securing an Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon under a U.S.-brokered deal.
In the latest strikes in the wider war, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said a U.S. air base in Jordan had been targeted with ballistic missiles. Jordan’s armed forces said they intercepted and shot down four missiles that entered Jordanian airspace from Iranian territory, according to a state news agency report.
The IRGC said in a statement that “not only do we not have any enmity with your country, but we also love you,” while calling on Jordan to dismantle American bases in the kingdom.
Iranian media reported U.S. strikes on a number of cities and said four people had been wounded and rescue operations were under way.
Hostilities have intensified since Iran said late on Saturday it had closed the Strait of Hormuz after firing a warning shot that struck a vessel travelling on what it said was an unauthorised route.
Trump said on Monday on Truth Social that the strait was open and would remain open, with or without Iran.
“We are reinstating THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE,” Trump said, announcing that the U.S. would charge a 20% fee on all cargo shipped through it.
Iran has also sought to establish its control over the strait and a system for collecting fees, warning vessels not to sail without its authorisation.
Iran’s top joint military command said the U.S. had no role in determining the future of the waterway. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi wrote on X that Tehran was the guardian of the strait and would remain so “forever”, adding in response to Trump: “20% is of course too much. We will be fair.”
Later on Monday, Trump said Iran would be hit “very hard tonight, and we’re going to hit them hard tomorrow. And there’s not a damn thing they can do about it.”
Before the conflict began in February, around a fifth of the world’s oil and gas traffic passed through Hormuz daily, delivering more than 15 million barrels of fuel to global markets worth at least $1.2 billion. If the U.S. were to impose a 20% fee, it could generate around $240 million a day.
The U.N. shipping agency said it opposed any fees for straits used in international navigation and that there is no legal basis for introducing mandatory tolls on strait transits.
UAE SAYS IRANIAN MISSILES HIT TWO SHIPS IN HORMUZ
The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Defence said on Monday that Iranian cruise missiles struck two Emirati oil tankers while transiting the southern lane of the strait in Omani territorial waters.
One Indian crew member was killed and eight others were wounded, the ministry said on Tuesday.
The IRGC said two “offending” supertankers had been hit and disabled in the strait after ignoring repeated warnings and turning off navigation systems, Iranian media reported.
The IRGC’s statement did not name the vessels or say whether they were the same tankers cited by the UAE ministry. But it accused the U.S. of “inciting vessels to use an illegal route” and warned that cooperation with the “aggressor enemy” would result in damage, delays in reopening the waterway and a global energy crisis.
The U.S. Navy-led Joint Maritime Information Center said a blockade of Iran would take effect at 2000 GMT on Tuesday and apply to all vessel traffic regardless of flag, covering the entire Iranian coastline including ports and oil terminals.
(Writing by Michael Perry and Timothy Heritage, Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus and Aidan Lewis)
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