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Ceasefire breaks, strikes surge
The United States launched new airstrikes against Iran early Thursday, and Tehran responded by targeting Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar as the crossfire again threatened an interim deal intended to help end the war in the Persian Gulf.
U.S. President Donald Trump said recent Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz signalled the end of the fragile ceasefire and threatened to escalate the conflict if they didn't stop, while sirens sounded at least twice in Bahrain and missiles were reported targeting Kuwait and Qatar.
In Iran, the two days of American airstrikes have killed at least 14 people and wounded another 78, Iran's Health Ministry said Thursday, and the Fars news agency said one U.S. strike hit a rail bridge used for trade with Russia and China.
The U.S. military's Central Command said it hit some 90 targets across Iran, releasing black-and-white footage of what appeared to be strikes on an airport runway and missile launchers, as Iranian state TV said the Revolutionary Guard fired missiles at a U.S. base in Jordan.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Canada stood with the Gulf countries and called the Iran attacks "completely unjustified," while speaking to reporters in Saudi Arabia as part of a government delegation led by Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Retaliation and competing narratives
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said it responded by launching drones and missiles at U.S. bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, while the U.S. military said it struck about 90 Iranian targets to "further degrade" Iran's ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
Amid the back-and-forth, Jordanian government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said all incoming fire from Iran had been intercepted, and Jordanian government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said all incoming fire from Iran had been intercepted.
In Washington, DC, Al Jazeera reported that the Trump administration has maintained that the MoU requires unfettered passage to all vessels, and it quoted David Des Roches saying, "That’s unacceptable to President Trump. So these strikes are a retaliation to that action."
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Wednesday that Iran interpreted the MoU to mean it had sole "responsibility in determining arrangements for the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz," and he said the position had been used to justify attacks on unapproved vessels transiting the strait.
Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman for the Iranian Parliament’s National Security Committee, warned of a response after Wednesday’s U.S. attacks with the post on X: "Wait for the hard slap by Iranians," as air raid sirens sounded in Bahrain and Kuwait after the latest U.S. strikes.
Economic risk and next moves
The renewed escalation threatened to tip the region back into a war that could halt energy shipments through the strait, and the CBC reported that Strait of Hormuz never really re-opened after the U.S.-Iran ceasefire while traffic picked up somewhat after a tentative deal last month included opening the waterway.
“The United States military has conducted another wave of strikes on Iran, a day after it launched a round of attacks, threatening a return to full-fledged war”
Maritime data company Lloyd's List Intelligence said Thursday that preliminary data showed at least 576 ships passed through the strait in June compared to 233 in May, and more than 3,100 transited the strait in June 2025.
The Guardian said the U.S. Treasury revoked a temporary sanctions waiver for Tehran to export oil, and it described the MoU as a ceasefire negotiating framework agreed on June 14 that was supposed to trigger at least 60 days of phased negotiations.
In parallel, the stakes for diplomacy and enforcement were framed around the MoU’s clause on safe passage, with Al Jazeera quoting the MoU’s contested language about Iran’s "best efforts" for safe passage for 60 days only, from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Oman, and vice versa.
The CBC also reported that the U.S. said the strikes were intended to "further degrade" Iran's ability "to threaten freedom of navigation" in the strait, while the U.S. military's Central Command said it hit some 90 targets across Iran as the conflict threatened the interim deal.
