US widens strikes on Iran as Hormuz crisis deepens

The United States expanded the scope of its strikes on Iran on Monday, targeting provinces around the country, including a city hosting a nuclear power plant, as Tehran kept up its attacks in the region.

The Middle East war resumed after a weeks-long lull prompted by amemorandum of understanding (MOU) signed in June.

Oil prices surged to a one-month high on Monday as the foes battled to control the vital Strait of Hormuz.

As its truce with the US collapsed, Tehran reimposed its blockade of the waterway through which a fifth of world oil supplies transited prior to the war, while Washington retaliated by again blockading Iran’s ports.

While the US had focused its strikes since the return to war mainly on areas near Hormuz, on Monday attacks hit provinces elsewhere in the country, including in the centre and the north, according to state media and local authorities.

In Bushehr, home to the country’s only operational civilian nuclear power plant, Governor Mohammad Mozaffari told state news agency IRNA: “A few minutes ago, several locations in Bushehr city were hit by the American enemy’s projectiles.”

The last attack on Bushehr was on Friday night, as Iranian media reported explosions were heard in the city.

In East Azerbaijan province in the north, the head of the local crisis management unit, Majid Farshi, told IRNA that one person was killed and several others injured in an attack there.

Despite the latest attacks, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said diplomatic exchanges with the United States via mediators were ongoing.

“Ideas have been conveyed to us by certain mediators,” he told a press conference in Tehran.

Ship on fire

In the Strait of Hormuz, meanwhile, sailors abandoned a vessel that caught fire after an attack, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency.

“The vessel was struck by an unknown projectile. The crew safely abandoned the vessel and have been recovered by a tug boat. The fire has not been extinguished, and the vessel is currently adrift,” UKMTO said.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard had earlier said that two oil tankers trying to transit the strait “exploded and were brought to a halt”, according to a statement reported by Tasnim news agency.

On Sunday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on countries around the world to share the burden of protecting global shipping.

“It’s clear that Iran, at least some people in Iran, want to control the straits and hold that as leverage against the world,” Rubio told reporters.