Qatar said its military intercepted incoming Iranian fire on Sunday after explosions were heard nearby, while the United States attacked Iran early Sunday morning over an Iranian strike on a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz.
The exchange widened the fighting beyond the strait, where a Cyprus-flagged container ship was set ablaze and forced its crew to abandon it. One civilian crew member is missing after the ship suffered significant engineroom damage.
Strait of Hormuz attack
Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said vessels had disregarded its warnings and instructions to correct their course and proceed along the approved route. One vessel was struck by a warning shot and brought to a stop, while the container ship traveling along a route hugging the shoreline of Oman caught fire.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said the ship had been moving close to Oman's coast when the attack unfolded. The crew abandoned the vessel as it burned, and the strike immediately turned a shipping dispute into a military one, with the waterway at the center of the war.
Qatar and the United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates warned the public Sunday of an incoming missile and drone attack, and missile alerts sounded in Bahrain. Explosions could be heard in nearby Qatar, followed shortly by the missile alert and the statement from Qatar's military that it intercepted the incoming Iranian fire.
Iran state media said the U.S. attacks apparently targeted Bandar Abbas and Sirik, along with other areas along the shores of the strait. Iran offered no immediate information about casualties or damage, and Pete Hegseth wrote online: "Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay."
Oman and Iran talks
Before the war began, about a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed through the Strait of Hormuz, making the route a pressure point for shipping and energy flows. Oman and Iran's foreign ministers met on Saturday to discuss the strait, and Oman said the two countries agreed to keep talking at the technical and political levels.
Iran said the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed "until further notice" and said it would consider targeting additional enemy bases in the region if it faced more attacks. The practical question for shipping is whether any vessel can move through the strait without running into the same warnings, closures, or fire that now surround it.
