Shipping, airports and fuel sites came under fire as oil prices climbed and the war spread deeper across the region.
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — Iran struck commercial ships and Gulf Arab infrastructure early Thursday as U.S. and Israeli forces continued bombing targets inside Iran, widening a war that has already disrupted one of the world’s most important oil routes and pushed crude prices back above $100 a barrel.
The latest attacks showed how fast the conflict has spread beyond Israel and Iran and into the Gulf states that host key energy facilities, ports and U.S. military positions. Iran’s leadership signaled no retreat, even after nearly two weeks of bombardment, while Washington and Jerusalem said they would keep pressing their campaign. The immediate stakes are both military and economic: damage to ships and energy sites, fear across Gulf capitals, and growing pressure on global oil markets and commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz.
The fighting began Feb. 28, when the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran. Since then, Iranian missile and drone attacks have hit Israel and several Gulf states, and the sea lane at the mouth of the Persian Gulf has turned into a combat zone. On Wednesday, multiple merchant vessels were struck in and near the Strait of Hormuz and Iraqi waters. The Thai-flagged dry bulk ship Mayuree Naree was hit by two projectiles while transiting the strait, setting off a fire and damaging its engine room. Its operator, Precious Shipping, said three crew members were missing and believed trapped in the engine room, while the other 20 crew members were evacuated safely to Oman. Images released by the Thai navy showed thick black smoke pouring from the vessel. Farhan al-Fartousi, director general of Iraq’s state-run ports company, said Iraqi boats rescued 25 crew members from two vessels in separate incidents and that fires were still burning on both ships.
Other ships also came under attack as the danger zone widened. Maritime security firms said the Japan-flagged container ship ONE Majesty was struck by an unknown projectile about 25 nautical miles northwest of Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates. Its owner and charterer said the hull was damaged above the waterline but the crew was safe and the ship remained seaworthy. A third vessel, the Marshall Islands-flagged Star Gwyneth, was hit about 50 nautical miles northwest of Dubai, damaging the hull in the hold area. On Thursday, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center reported that another container ship was struck by an unidentified projectile 35 nautical miles north of Jebel Ali in the UAE, causing a small fire. All crew were reported safe. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has repeatedly warned that ships passing through the strait could be targeted, and Iranian state-linked statements suggested at least one of the attacks was a direct engagement by Iranian forces rather than a strike by proxy or by stand-off weapons.
The attacks did not stop at sea. In Bahrain, an Iranian strike triggered a major fire on Muharraq Island, home to the country’s international airport and a major fuel storage area. In Kuwait, authorities said a drone hit a residential building, wounding two people, and separate drone activity caused damage at Kuwait International Airport without reported deaths. In the UAE, officials said air defenses were activated twice to protect Dubai, and firefighters later put out a blaze at a tower after a drone hit. The pattern of strikes showed Iran trying to spread the cost of the war across the wider Gulf, especially among states that host U.S. facilities or serve as major energy and transport hubs. The full scale of the damage was still unclear by Thursday, and officials in several countries had not yet released complete assessments of casualties, flight disruptions or losses to fuel storage and port operations.
Markets reacted quickly. Brent crude rose above $100 a barrel on Thursday after fresh shipping attacks, extending a sharp run-up that began when the war started. Reuters reported that prices were up about 38% from the start of the conflict, after swinging wildly in recent days and briefly approaching $120 a barrel earlier in the crisis. The Strait of Hormuz carries about one-fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas, making even limited disruptions unusually important. Tanker traffic through the waterway had already collapsed by last week, with Reuters reporting daily tanker passages had fallen to zero by March 4 from 37 on Feb. 27, the day before the first U.S.-Israeli strikes. Iraq’s oil ports have now halted operations, though commercial ports were still functioning. Saudi Arabia has rerouted some shipments through its east-west pipeline, and shipping companies have faced mounting pressure from insurers, charterers and crews as the risk of mines, drones and missile strikes rises.
The political message from Tehran was just as stark as the military one. Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, said Thursday that the leverage of closing the Strait of Hormuz should be used and that attacks on Gulf Arab neighbors would continue. His statement, read on state television, was his first since his appointment after the death of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the war’s opening phase. President Masoud Pezeshkian also said Iran wanted its “legitimate rights” recognized, reparations paid and guarantees against future attacks. On the other side, President Donald Trump said the United States would “finish the job,” even as he also claimed Iran was “virtually destroyed.” U.S. and Israeli officials have said one of their central aims is to cripple Iran’s military and destroy what remains of its nuclear program. The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution Wednesday calling for a halt to Iran’s attacks on Gulf neighbors, but there was no sign on Thursday that either side was preparing to step back.
The human toll and regional fallout have kept climbing. AP reported that as many as 3.2 million people in Iran have been displaced during the war, most of them fleeing Tehran and other major cities. In Lebanon, where Hezbollah has entered the fight more openly, hundreds of rockets were launched into northern Israel overnight, and Israeli strikes continued in response. The conflict is no longer confined to the original exchange between Iran and Israel; it now reaches shipping lanes, airports, apartment towers, fuel depots and border areas across several countries. Residents in Gulf cities have spent repeated nights under alerts as air defenses fired overhead or sirens sounded. “The noise was extraordinary, it was really scary,” Israeli resident Naama Porat said after overnight attacks from Lebanon and Iran. In the Gulf, officials and port operators were still trying to determine how much infrastructure remained vulnerable and how long emergency measures would last.
Governments have begun to move from crisis response to contingency planning. President Trump said the U.S. Navy was prepared to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz if needed, but Reuters reported that the Navy had so far declined near-daily requests from the shipping industry for escorts because the risk of attack remained too high. Instead, the United States announced it would release 172 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as part of a broader 400 million-barrel release coordinated through the International Energy Agency. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said deliveries would begin next week and take about 120 days. That step may ease price pressure, but it does not solve the security problem in the Gulf. Shipping companies still face unanswered questions about routing, crews, insurance and whether more strikes could force a longer closure of the strait. For now, the war’s next milestone appears to be whether attacks on ships and Gulf infrastructure continue through the weekend and whether Washington decides that naval escorts can no longer be delayed.
Author note: Last updated March 12, 2026.