US and Iran trade strikes, and other Mideast news

The United States military struck targets in Iran on Tuesday as hostilities flared after a month without military action.

Iran fired missiles and drones in response, Iranian semiofficial media said. The Fars and Tasnim news agencies, seen as close to Iran’s security forces, reported late Tuesday that Iran had launched such operations.

One U.S. strike hit a home hosting a wedding, killing two people and wounding dozens, local officials said.

Here’s a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.

US strikes targets in Iran

U.S. Central Command said the new strikes come after Tehran tried to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and U.S. service members in the region.

U.S. President Donald Trump warned in a social media post that if Iran retaliates, “they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level, but it will not be the biggest attack of them all, that is waiting in the wings.”

On Sunday, the U.S. military said it struck rocket launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran responded by launching missiles at U.S. sites in Jordan, which were intercepted, while the United Arab Emirates said it stopped an Iranian drone over its waters.

After the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, Iran established a chokehold on the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil passed in peacetime, slowing ship traffic to a trickle. That has roiled the global economy, raising prices worldwide for energy and other goods.

While Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has long favored a negotiated end to the war, the most powerful force in Iran remains the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which is pressing for greater concessions from the U.S., including Iranian control over the strait and financial compensation for the war. Those conditions would likely be unacceptable to Washington.

US renews regionwide Mideast travel alert

The State Department renewed a regionwide travel alert for the Middle East as hostilities between the U.S. and Iran resumed.

“Due to tensions in the Middle East, the security environment remains complex with the potential for unforeseen escalation,” the department said in a blanket advisory covering all countries in the region. The language is similar to that used in previous warnings that came before a lull in combat activities and said Americans in the Mideast should exercise heightened vigilance and be aware of potential travel disruptions.

Iran is working with Oman on a plan for shipping traffic

Iran has been working with Oman, which sits on the south side of the Strait of Hormuz, on a framework for managing shipping traffic, though it remains unclear whether the plan would be acceptable to the U.S.

Other Gulf nations have stressed the need to reopen the strait unconditionally.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, met with Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq on Tuesday, according to the Saudi Press Agency, which said the two discussed “ongoing efforts to maintain regional security and stability,” but did not mention the strait specifically.

Iran continues to deny UN inspectors access to nuclear sites

The United Nations nuclear watchdog has been unable to inspect nuclear facilities in Iran affected by the 12-day war in June 2025, according to a confidential report by the U.N. watchdog circulated to member states and seen Tuesday by The Associated Press.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said in its report that therefore it “cannot provide any information on the current size, composition or whereabouts of the stockpile of enriched uranium in Iran.”

Israeli raid to detain Hamas militant in Gaza kills 4 people

Israel said it detained a senior Hamas security official in a special forces raid in Gaza City on Tuesday. The operation killed at least four people, including two children, hospital officials said.

In a joint statement, Israel’s military and national security agency said the operation targeted the head of Hamas’ internal security.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that the detainee, who he did not name, is “one of the most senior Hamas leaders” and that he was most recently “engaged in efforts to restore Hamas’s governance in Gaza.”

Islamic State spokesperson killed in Yemen

Yemen’s state security said that Islamic State spokesperson Abu Huzayfah al-Ansari was killed in Yemen in a joint operation by Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces and the Yemeni counterterrorism forces.

He was killed at dawn Tuesday while he was hiding in a house in Seiyun city in the Yemeni province of Hadramout, according to a security statement published by state-run SABA news agency.

A U.S. official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said there was no U.S. military involvement in the operation.

— Ben Finley contributed from Washington.

2 ships attacked in and around the Strait of Hormuz

The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said it received reports of an attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, and a second report involving a nearby tanker.

The UKMTO said a tanker was hit by three projectiles Monday on its way out of the Persian Gulf through the strait east of Oman. In the second attack the same day, the center received a report “involving a tanker and military forces” off the coast of Oman, east of the Strait of Hormuz.