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Persian Gulf
The US and Iran are back to bombing every day in a bid to control the Strait of Hormuz. And neither is backing down, showing the limitations of President Donald Trump's reliance on escalating airstrikes to bend Tehran to his will. While the Trump administration says it is open to diplomacy, Iran so far has refused to loosen its grip over the crucial oil shipping corridor in the Persian Gulf. It is raising questions about the strategy for the next phase of the conflict as intensifying attacks have collapsed an interim ceasefire deal, left additional American troops dead and sent U.S. gasoline prices back up - posing new problems for Republicans ahead of the midterm elections. Even with glimmers of hope for talks, the sides could be headed back to all-out war, with Trump warning that "every time Iran kills an American Soldier" going forward, "they will pay for that killing many times over." The renewed escalations reflect "a fundamental misreading of the Iranian psyche and a lack of .
India on Tuesday strongly condemned the attacks on two merchant vessels in Strait of Hormuz, in which one Indian national was killed and 10 others were injured. The Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of Iran was summoned this morning by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and a strong protest against these attacks was lodged with him. India said it is "deeply concerned" by the attacks on two vessels, MT Al Bahiyah and MT Mombasa, during their transit through the strait. "Both the vessels were carrying 30 Indian seafarers, among their combined crew of 46. Of the 12 Indian nationals onboard MT Al Bahiyah, one has tragically lost his life and another has been injured," the MEA said. "Of the 18 Indian nationals onboard MT Mombasa, nine have sustained injuries, including two who are reported to be seriously injured," it said. The MEA said India strongly condemns these attacks and "acts of violence targeting seafarers and disrupting free and safe navigation through international
A tanker travelling off the coast of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz caught on fire early Tuesday morning after being struck by a projectile, the British military said. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said the tanker had been hit near Limah, Oman, in the strait. It said the projectile hit the port side of the vessel while trying to travelling south out of the strait toward the Gulf of Oman. It said there was no environmental impact from the strike and that authorities were investigating. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, though Iran is suspected of attacking at least two other vessels in the strait travelling on a route near Oman in recent days.
China's maritime vulnerability begins at the Strait of Hormuz rather than the Strait of Malacca, creating a new arena of strategic competition in the Indian Ocean among Beijing, India, France and the US, according to a report by the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies. Released ahead of the three-day Shangri-La Dialogue security summit that opened in Singapore on Friday, the report says the Indian Ocean Region is re-emerging as a key strategic theatre after decades of relative calm following the end of the Cold War. The report, titled "Asia Pacific Regional Security Assessment", argues that China's dependence on energy supplies moving through the Indian Ocean has made the region increasingly important to Beijing's security calculations, while also exposing vulnerabilities that rival powers could seek to exploit during a conflict. The study examines strategic competition around major maritime choke points linking the Middle East and Asia, with particular focus o