Kate Sullivan, Skylar Wooden House and Adriana Lowenkron Updated July 21, 2026 — 2:41 p.m.,first published July 21, 2026 — 5:57 a.m. Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. TOTOTO Washington: US forces attacked Iranian targets after US President Donald Trump promised that
Kate Sullivan, Skylar Wooden House and Adriana Lowenkron
Updated ,first published
Washington: US forces attacked Iranian targets after US President Donald Trump promised that Tehran would “pay” for killing three US soldiers, even as mediators proposed a new truce as the war in the Middle East widened.
US Central Command said the military had completed the latest wave of attacks around 9pm on Monday (Washington time), the 10th consecutive day of attacks.
The operation targeted “military command centers, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and air defense systems to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking commercial vessels flowing through the Strait of Hormuz,” it said in a statement.
“Every time Iran kills an American soldier, it will pay many times over for that murder!” Trump wrote in an earlier social media post.
After more than a week of worsening fighting, Iran said mediators were in contact with proposals on how to ease hostilities. However, tensions remain high and the conflict looked set to expand further after Tehran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen threatened to blockade Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea.
Esmail Baghaei, spokesman for the Islamic Republic’s Foreign Ministry, said that “the ideas of some mediators have been conveyed” to Tehran, without giving further details. Tehran said its Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni would travel to Pakistan.
Pakistan and Qatar, the main intermediaries in the conflict, see a return to positions between the United States and Iran before July 9 as a first step, according to the semi-official Iranian student news agency. The fight for control of the Strait of Hormuz began that day, effectively upending a provisional peace agreement signed last month.
Asked about a Reuters report that mediators proposed a 10-day ceasefire, a U.S. official said Trump was currently focused on punishing Iran for attacking ships in the strait. The attacks would continue until the president chose a different course of action, the official said, but diplomatic efforts to end the war continued.
Brent oil fell after rising nearly 6 percent in the previous two sessions. The global benchmark fell to $88 a barrel.
Yahya Saree, a spokesman for the Houthis in Yemen, said they would impose a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia in retaliation for what they say is the kingdom’s siege of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.
That announcement adds to the threats facing global oil supplies, as it puts at risk the flow of millions of barrels that the kingdom exports through the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia said it would take all necessary measures to protect its ships.
Iran had been pressuring the Houthis to close the Bab el-Mandeb gate to the Red Sea if the United States continued attacking Iranian energy infrastructure.
Fuel prices in the United States have risen back above $4 a gallon ($1.51 a liter), which could hurt Trump and his Republican Party ahead of the midterm elections in November.
Tehran, insisting that it has the right to manage traffic through the strait, has continued to attack US bases in Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain and Iraq. And the clashes are increasingly deadly.
The US military announced Saturday the death of a service member in northern Iraq during a “controlled detonation” of a downed Iranian drone. That was a day after two other people, identified Monday as 1st Lt. James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Private Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, were killed in an Iranian attack on Jordan. Authorities said this week they had found unidentified remains that could be those of a third soldier reported missing in the Jordan attack.
Iran says U.S. strikes have hit bridges, killed more than 50 people and wounded more than 500 since the most recent flare-up between the two sides began just under two weeks ago.
Trump warned Iran last week that he would intensify airstrikes and expand targeting until it backed down. The latest US strikes were “in honor” of slain personnel, Trump told reporters. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president would attend a transfer ceremony worthy of “our fallen heroes” on Tuesday night.
U.S. Department of Defense spokesman Sean Parnell said that while nearly 100 service members were considered to have some degree of injury as of July 7, 2026, 96 percent had returned to duty.
“The vast majority of injuries sustained were minor concussions,” he said.
A breakthrough is unlikely until the United States and Iran can reach a deal on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies flowed before the conflict.
Shipping volumes have plummeted and the number of ships passing through Hormuz is now around the same level as during the height of the conflict in March and early April.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said his country will not abandon diplomacy but will not be forced to return to the negotiating table while under military attack.
“Iran’s actions in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf had global consequences, and we became a global player,” he said in an interview published on his Telegram channel, underscoring how Tehran sees control of the strait as a source of influence over the United States and vital to its security.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran was continuing to send signals that it wanted to negotiate, but reiterated the U.S. view that the Iranian government was divided between those who wanted a peace deal and hardliners who wanted to keep fighting.
Kuwait continues to experience some of Iran’s worst attacks. Over the weekend, its main state energy company said an unspecified site suffered “significant material losses,” prompting its evacuation and several injuries, while two power and desalination plants were affected in recent days.
The United States is sending more fighter jets to the Middle East. The New York Times reported, citing unnamed US officials. The aircraft include F-35 and F-16 fighter jets, as well as mid-air refueling aircraft.
“The Americans continue to bring new military equipment to the region while claiming they want to stop the war,” Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has been involved in talks with the United States, posted on X. “We have become experts at recognizing these American tactics and have prepared accordingly.”
Bloomberg, Reuters
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