US strikes on Iran and Hormuz blockade spark oil price surge and diplomatic fallout

The United States carried out a seventh night of airstrikes against Iranian military sites, targeting radar, weapons depots and other infrastructure. Iran responded with retaliatory attacks and the Revolutionary Guard claimed to have struck U.S. facilities in Bahrain; Bahrain said it intercepted Iranian missiles and drones.

Simultaneously, the United States imposed a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, halting much of the commercial traffic through the vital oil passage. The combined effect of the attacks and the blockade pushed global oil prices sharply higher.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul described the Hormuz blockage as a “wake‑up call”, urging a faster shift to renewable energy and rejecting calls for a new tank‑fuel rebate. Legal scholars debated whether the U.S. actions constitute a permissible wartime blockade under customary international law.

In Iran, a U.S. strike hit a seawater‑desalination plant in the Hormuzgan province, cutting drinking‑water supplies for roughly 10,000 residents in twenty coastal villages.