Iran and the United States exchanged strikes on Thursday across West Asia, raising fears of a renewed phase of conflict and adding pressure on a global economy already sensitive to rising oil prices.
Oil futures climbed 2.17 percent, trading at $96.34, after US forces struck Iranian military targets. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) later said it had hit a base used by US personnel in Kuwait in retaliation for an earlier attack on a target near the Strait of Hormuz.
The US Central Command reported that Iran launched a ballistic missile toward Kuwait that Kuwaiti forces intercepted. It also said Iranian forces launched five attack drones that were successfully intercepted and that a sixth drone launch from a ground-control site in Bandar Abbas was prevented.
The IRGC characterized its action as a response to US aggression, saying it targeted the American airbase that served as the source of the earlier strike near Bandar Abbas airport. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei condemned what he called threatening rhetoric from US officials and said Tehran would take all necessary measures to defend its sovereignty. He added that this was the third time the US had engaged Iranian forces directly since a previous ceasefire announcement.
In Washington, President Donald Trump said his administration was making progress toward negotiations to end the wider conflict but denied reports that a compromise deal with Tehran was imminent. He dismissed an Iranian state-TV account—based on an unofficial draft—that said commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz would be restored to pre-war levels within a month and be jointly managed by Iran and Oman.
Trump insisted the strait was international waters and warned that no single country would control traffic there, signaling that the US would oppose any attempt to do so. He said he was not yet satisfied with any proposed agreement and that Washington was not discussing easing sanctions on Iran.
Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament’s national security committee, responded on social media that Trump’s rhetoric would not compel Tehran to give up its goals, which include expanding uranium enrichment, asserting influence over passage through the Strait, and securing sanctions relief. He described the US president as alternating between threats and offers of negotiation in an effort to find an escape from the strategic deadlock.
The exchange of strikes underscores heightened regional tensions and the risk that further military escalation could disrupt energy markets and broader economic stability.
