Seven nights running, and Washington shows no sign of letting up.
US forces carried out another round of strikes against Iranian military targets overnight, with the US Central Command confirming the attacks were designed to further degrade Iran’s armed forces. Iranian state media reported explosions near the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supply passes every single day.
It’s the kind of geography that makes markets nervous. Traders woke to fresh volatility in crude prices, with the prospect of disruption to Hormuz shipping doing what it always does to oil futures: sending them upward.
The US military hasn’t been specific about what was hit, which is fairly standard during active operations. What’s clear is that this is no longer a one-off exchange. Seven consecutive nights of strikes represents a sustained campaign, and the tempo shows no sign of dropping.
Iran’s government condemned the attacks, with officials describing the strikes near Hormuz as a deliberate provocation aimed at destabilising the region. Tehran has repeatedly warned that any interference with the strait would have consequences for global energy markets, a threat it’s made before and one that Western governments tend to take seriously, even when they don’t say so publicly.
“The enemy believes it can break our resolve through attrition,” one Iranian official was quoted as saying by state broadcaster IRIB. “It cannot.”
Back in Britain, the government has been watching closely. The UK has significant naval interests in the Gulf, and British-flagged vessels transit the strait regularly. The Foreign Office updated its travel advice for the region earlier this week, though it stopped well short of advising against travel.
For ordinary households already bruised by years of elevated energy bills, the real worry is simpler: what happens to petrol prices if this escalates further? A prolonged conflict anywhere near Hormuz tends to find its way onto the forecourt within days.
The question now isn’t whether these strikes will continue. It’s whether Iran, or anyone else in the region, decides to change the rules of the game entirely.
