Iran

Iran has declared the Straits of Hormuz closed,and fired at a Cypriot-flagged tanker trying to cross. This triggered a US attack on Iran. In response Iran fired missiles and drones at US targets across the Gulf. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it closed the waterway until further notice and warned of a severe response to US "aggression", according to state media. Within hours of the US strikes, the IRGC said they had hit a US base in Jordan, while the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain were all responding to missiles and drones from Iran. It comes after incidents earlier this week in which three commercial tankers were attacked, prompting an exchange of strikes with the US. US Central Command (Centcom) said it launched a third round of strikes this week after the IRGC "blatantly attacked" a Cyprus-flagged vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. Centcom said the MV GFS Galaxy was "unable to continue its journey" as a result of significant damage to the engine room. One civilian crew member was missing, it said. It said US strikes hit 140 Iranian military targets, including missile and drone sites, communication networks, and coastal surveillance locations. The UK's Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it had been informed by military authorities that the crew of the vessel were forced to abandon ship and were in a lifeboat.

Mediators from Pakistan and Qatar have been desperately trying to salvage the US-Iran agreement, outlined in a Memorandum of Understanding, that over the last few days looked increasingly as if it was falling apart. After Iran tried to assert its control over the Strait of Hormuz, firing at ships that had ignored its claims, the US bombed targets in Iran. Iran subsequentlky bombed US military facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Jordan. But the last twelve hours have been quieter, and observers believe that the mediators - Pakistan and Qatar have persuaded the two beligerents to stop shooting and return to diplomacy. Fighting immediately impact the precarious oil market. It was announced that the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve has hit its lowest level since 1983, due to growing tensions with Iran and global supply concerns. President Trump acknowledged to reporters on Wednesday that any time the US strikes Iran, oil prices jump. And they did. The reserve fell by 6.2 million barrels in the week ending July 3 to 319.5 million barrels – its lowest level since the Reagan administration. In the Gulf, there is increasing concern on the fragility of the US-Iran agreement.Zeidon Alkinani, founding director of the Arab Perspectives Institute, says Gulf states are conducting efforts to ensure diplomacy ends the US war on Iran as soon as possible. “In the long term, we might be seeing different schools of thought and imagining a future relationship with Iran, a future relationship with the US, or imagining new transnational alliances from the regional perspective,” Alkinani told Al Jazeera. Considerations would include how to achieve more deterrence for Iranian and Israeli expansionism, and how to curb too much reliance on the United States, he added. “Others might want to continue things as they were to ensure that the conflicts were to end,” said Alkinani.