SerpApi.Org
The United States and Iran traded attacks across the Middle East for a 10th straight day on Tuesday, overshadowing Pakistan's efforts to revive an interim ceasefire that collapsed earlier this month. The fighting, centred on the Strait of Hormuz, has disrupted shipping through the vital waterway and raised fresh concern over global energy supplies.
Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni visited Pakistan, which had helped broker last month's interim agreement and is trying to bring both sides back to talks. But the diplomatic push remained uncertain after US President Donald Trump said from the Oval Office that the US had "no interest in meeting".
Trump told reporters that Iranian officials "want to desperately meet. And until they're ready to meet in a meaningful way, we have no interest in meeting." He also said the US would soon target the area near Pickaxe Mountain, a fortified underground site near one of Iran's main nuclear enrichment facilities. A deep level of mistrust remains between the two sides. Iran came under a surprise attack in June 2025 and again in February while it was engaged in nuclear negotiations with the US. The interim deal later unravelled when Iran resumed attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, which was supposed to be reopened under the agreement.
Early on Tuesday, the US continued its airstrikes on Iran. The US military's Central Command said it had targeted "Iranian military command centres, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and air defense systems" and released more footage of strikes on sites in Iran. It added: "American forces remain postured and prepared to hold Iran accountable for unwarranted aggression toward civilian mariners seeking to freely and openly transit the strait." Iranian state media said explosions were heard in Fars, Hormozgan, Ilam, Kerman, and Sistan and Baluchistan provinces.
The fighting at sea also intensified. A tanker came under attack early Tuesday in the strait off Oman, forcing the crew to abandon the vessel, according to the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre. Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard claimed that attack, as well as two other attacks on ships on Monday in the waterway. The route around Oman had been the one the US military encouraged ships to use to avoid Iran's control. Despite repeated US strikes, Tehran has not loosened its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of the world's crude oil and natural gas moved before the war, and shipping through the strait has largely stalled.
Iran also kept up attacks on US allies in the region. Jordan's military said Iran targeted the country with five drones and three missiles, all of which were shot down. Bahrain sounded missile alert sirens on Tuesday afternoon during another Iranian barrage targeting the island kingdom, home to the US Navy's 5th Fleet. Kuwait said Iran struck desalination and power plants for a fourth straight day on Monday night, causing fires and damage. About 90 per cent of Kuwait's drinking water comes from desalination. US strikes have also hit electrical equipment in Iran, and Iranian officials have said American forces targeted water facilities.
In the Red Sea, Iran-backed Houthi rebels opened another front by declaring a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia, threatening global oil supplies and trade. With the Strait of Hormuz blocked, Saudi Arabia has been relying on a pipeline to the Red Sea to move millions of barrels of oil to market. Houthi-run Yemeni news agency SABA said six ships in the Red Sea were forced to reroute after receiving warnings from the group, though the claim could not be immediately confirmed. Three Houthi officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief journalists, said the group had warned international shipping companies on Monday to avoid the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the gateway to the Red Sea at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.
The escalation pushed oil prices higher. Benchmark Brent crude traded at about USD 91 a barrel on Tuesday, while regular petrol in the US rose to an average of USD 4 a gallon. With US midterm elections due in the autumn, polls have pointed to the war's unpopularity among Americans, who have been hit by higher fuel prices and have seen new casualties in a conflict that had appeared to be winding down weeks earlier.
In Pakistan, Momeni met army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, according to two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks. He later met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. In a statement, Sharif expressed deep concern over the recent escalation between the US and Iran and urged all sides to exercise restraint and avoid steps that could further destabilise the region. Pakistan's political leadership and Munir, who serves as both chief of army staff and defence forces, played a key role in brokering last month's interim agreement, and Islamabad has been working to persuade both sides to return to the negotiating table to resolve outstanding issues under the June memorandum of understanding.
As fighting continued across the Gulf and the Red Sea, Pakistan's attempt to restart diplomacy faced a difficult backdrop of stalled shipping, rising oil prices, fresh regional attacks and an openly hardening US position.
With PTI Inputs
