The strikes near the Strait of Hormuz came as Iran widened attacks and pressure grew over global oil flows and stranded shipping.
WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. military struck Iranian missile sites along the coast near the Strait of Hormuz with multiple 5,000-pound deep penetrator bombs Tuesday, opening a new phase in the widening war around one of the world’s most important oil chokepoints.
The attack pushed the United States deeper into a conflict already spreading across Iran, Israel and Gulf Arab states. It also raised the stakes for world energy markets and maritime trade because the targets sit near a narrow waterway that normally carries about one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas. American officials described the sites as missile positions along Iran’s coastline, while Iranian leaders kept warning they would not loosen their grip on the passage. By Wednesday, the focus had shifted from the blasts themselves to whether more strikes, more retaliation and more shipping disruptions were about to follow.
The U.S. Central Command said the bombs hit Iranian missile sites near the Strait after a fresh burst of attacks across the region. The strikes came as Iran launched missile and drone fire after Israel said it had killed Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, head of the Basij militia. Associated Press reporting said two people were killed in Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv, when Iran fired multiple-warhead missiles at central Israel. The same day, American forces targeted coastal missile positions that officials said threatened traffic in and around the strait. Pentagon officials did not publicly release a full target list, damage estimate or bomb count beyond saying multiple deep penetrator bombs were used. The operation marked one of the clearest signs yet that Washington is willing to use heavier ordnance not only against hardened inland facilities, but also against military positions tied directly to the fight over sea lanes.
The immediate military picture remained fluid Wednesday. U.S. officials said the targets were missile sites along Iran’s coastline, but many details were still unclear, including how many launchers were destroyed and whether any crews had moved before the bombs fell. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said days earlier there was no clear evidence that Iran had mined the Strait of Hormuz, a point that cut against some of the most dramatic fears about how Tehran might try to close the waterway. Even so, shipping patterns showed severe disruption. Maritime and trade data cited by AP showed that only 89 ships crossed the strait between March 1 and 15, including 16 oil tankers, down sharply from the roughly 100 to 135 vessel passages seen on a typical day before the war. About 20 vessels have been attacked in the area since the conflict began, and hundreds more have anchored rather than risk the passage. Tehran has signaled that some traffic can still pass, especially ships with political or commercial ties that it does not view as hostile, but Western and allied shipping has faced much greater danger.
The geography explains why the strike mattered far beyond the battlefield. The Strait of Hormuz is the narrow exit from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, and it sits beside Iranian islands and coastal sites long used for surveillance, missile deployment and naval activity. Nearby Kharg Island is especially important because nearly all of Iran’s oil exports pass through it. AP reporting said Iran has exported more than 16 million barrels of oil since early March despite the war, much of it to China, and that about 90 ships have still made it through the strait under a mix of diplomacy, risk-taking and selective access. Reuters reported that Gulf producers are trying to reroute exports through pipelines that bypass the strait, including Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline to Yanbu on the Red Sea and the UAE’s Habshan-Fujairah line to the Gulf of Oman. Those alternatives help, but they do not fully replace the waterway. That leaves every new strike near the strait carrying military, diplomatic and economic consequences at the same time.
The conflict has also moved beyond Iran and Israel into a broader contest over shipping, ports, energy plants and allied territory. Reuters reported that Iranian officials warned people in parts of the UAE to leave areas near major ports after U.S. strikes on Iranian targets, and the UAE said nine ballistic missiles and 33 drones were launched toward it on Saturday. On Wednesday, Iranian state media and Reuters reported new warnings aimed at energy facilities in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar after Iranian gas infrastructure was hit. Brent crude rose above $108 a barrel in Wednesday trading, and traders pushed prices higher on fears that the war could keep damaging production and transport networks. U.S. officials have been trying to ease the shock. Reuters reported that the Trump administration announced a 60-day Jones Act waiver to help move fuel and other goods between U.S. ports, and also loosened some restrictions tied to Venezuelan oil transactions. Those moves showed how a bombing run on missile sites near Iran’s coast quickly turned into a problem for shipping insurers, refiners, governments and consumers far from the Gulf.
What comes next is likely to play out on military and diplomatic tracks at once. President Donald Trump has pressed allies and partners to help secure the strait, and Reuters reported that NATO countries were weighing options on Wednesday as governments discussed how to protect merchant traffic. At the International Maritime Organization in London, Bahrain, Japan, Panama, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, with U.S. backing, proposed a safe maritime corridor to evacuate commercial ships and protect crews trapped by the fighting. The IMO’s secretary-general said at least seven merchant sailors have been killed in the conflict, and the council session is continuing Thursday. On the military side, U.S. officials have not announced a stop to strikes near the strait, and Iran has not signaled that it will back away from its campaign of pressure on shipping and regional energy sites. There were no criminal charges or courtroom steps attached to the bombing itself, but there were clear procedural next moves: more military assessments, more talks among allied navies, and more emergency diplomacy over passage for tankers and civilian crews.
For people in the Gulf, the story is measured in smoke, alarms and waiting. Reuters photographs from Oman and the UAE have shown tankers at anchor, reduced traffic and fires linked to drone debris in industrial zones. Ship crews have been caught between military warnings and commercial pressure, while governments scramble to protect ports, pipelines and fuel supplies. Oil executives are preparing for more volatility, and importers in Asia are watching every move because so much of their supply normally passes through the strait. Iran, meanwhile, has tried to show both defiance and control, keeping some of its own exports moving even while threatening routes used by rivals. American officials have framed the bunker-buster strikes as a military answer to missile threats on the coast. Iranian leaders have treated them as proof that Washington is widening the war. Between those positions is a tense stretch of water where fewer ships are moving, more crews are stranded and each new blast adds pressure to a region already struggling to keep a larger crisis from spilling even further.
The situation late Wednesday remained unsettled, with U.S. forces still assessing the damage from Tuesday’s bombing run and diplomats preparing for another day of maritime talks Thursday in London. The next major milestone is whether a protected shipping framework emerges while Iran and the United States decide if the latest strikes are a warning or the start of a broader campaign.
Author note: Last updated March 18, 2026.