US and Iran trade more blows in escalating weekend fighting

U.S. forces launched a fresh round of strikes on Iran Sunday night, a day after the two countries traded attacks in a week of renewed fighting.

U.S. Central Command said the attacks were meant “to continue degrading their ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the Strait of Hormuz.” CENTCOM did not say what was targeted or how many sites were hit, but Iranian media reported explosions at several locations in southern Iran, including Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. The newest round of American strikes were done at President Donald Trump’s direction, according to the military.

Before Sunday night’s operation, CENTCOM said that U.S. forces hit roughly 300 targets in three rounds of strikes since Tuesday. The attacks so far have involved munitions fired from fighter jets, ships in the nearby waters and U.S. drones, according to U.S. Central Command. The U.S. has gone after ships, naval logistics sites, missile and drone launching facilities and telecommunications.

Tehran in turn fired drones and missiles in retaliation Saturday, targeting American bases in Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Iran said it targeted naval support infrastructure, although it is unclear if any munitions hit targets. It’s also unclear if anyone has been killed in this weekend’s fighting.

CENTCOM also said Sunday that no American service members had been injured or killed in the fighting.

The full extent of Sunday’s attack is unclear, but Saturday’s strikes are the largest since the U.S. and Iran restarted fighting this week. That restarted after the United States targeted Iranian missile sites in response to attacks on commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway that has been at the center of negotiations over recent weeks. Tensions escalated on Monday when commercial ships crossing through the Strait of Hormuz were attacked.

The fighting also comes roughly halfway through the 60-day ceasefire for negotiations agreed upon in the memorandum of understanding signed by Washington and Tehran. On Wednesday at the NATO summit in Turkey, President Donald Trump said that he considered the ceasefire “over.” Since then the two countries have fired on each other twice more.

According to Central Command, American forces hit 80 targets on July 7 and another 90 on July 8. In each round of strikes, they targeted boats and other maritime assets as well as air defense and missile launch sites. U.S. forces have hit more than 300 targets over the last six days of fighting.

On Sunday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that the strait was now temporarily closed in response to the attacks. CENTCOM said in a post to social media Sunday that “U.S. forces are positioned and prepared” to keep the Strait of Hormuz open for navigation. 

Update: 7/12/2026; This article was updated after U.S. forces launched another round of strikes on Iran on Sunday.