Missile alert sirens sounded three times Monday in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, after Iran expanded its strikes across the Gulf and targeted U.S. military facilities in Kuwait and Bahrain. The latest round of attacks came after Washington launched a new wave of strikes against Iranian military sites, turning the Strait of Hormuz and the surrounding states into a live-fire corridor for rival state machines while civilians and commercial shipping sit underneath the blast radius.
The State Monopoly on the Waterway
The U.S. military said it struck dozens of sites Monday, including air defense systems, radar sites, missile and drone equipment, and small boats. It also said it used drone ships for the first time to hit an Iranian ship maintenance facility and submarine on Sunday. U.S. Central Command said three Corsair unmanned surface vessels hit the port at Bandar Abbas Naval Base on Sunday. The military said the strikes were meant to impose a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. That’s the language of protection, stripped down to its machinery: one armed state claiming it can secure a waterway by bombing another armed state’s infrastructure.
President Donald Trump said the U.S. was “reinstating” a blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and would charge other ships for safe passage. In the Oval Office, he said, “We’re hitting them very hard. And it’ll continue, and we’ll see what happens. We’re knocking out all of their offensive capability and we’re controlling the straits. We’re putting the blockade back.” He added, “We’re protecting a very rich portion of the world. We’re spending money. And so, what we’ve done is, we are going to be reimbursed for protection.” Trump said the U.S. would be “reimbursed” by 20% of the value of cargo to help cover “any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security.” The U.S. military said it would resume its blockade of Iranian ports Tuesday at 4 p.m. EDT. The state calls it safety. The invoice comes next.
Who Gets to Manage the Strait
Iran said on Monday that an initial peace deal reached with the United States last month was in a state of “crisis” as its military released footage it said showed missiles being launched earlier in the day in response to what it described as “US aggressions.” Iran also said it had again shut down the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X, “POTUS is absolutely right. Whoever provides secure and safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz should be compensated for this service. Iran has always been the GUARDIAN of the Strait and will remain so FOREVER. 20% is of course too much. We will be fair.” Iran asserted it has the right to manage traffic through the strait and potentially charge fees in accordance with the interim peace deal, while the U.S. disputed that. Different flags, same logic: control the choke point, collect the toll, call it governance.
The International Maritime Organization said it was waiting to find out more about Trump’s proposal but remained opposed to tolls for passage through international waterways, saying, “There is no legal basis through which to introduce mandatory tolls simply to transit through a strait.” That’s the international system in miniature — an institution objecting to one form of extortion while standing helplessly beside the armed actors doing the extorting.
Civilians Under the Crossfire
Missile alert sirens sounded three times Monday in Bahrain, and Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry said its consulate in Iraq had been attacked. It did not immediately blame anyone or disclose damages or casualties. The oil-rich kingdom, home to several U.S. military bases, also condemned Iran and “its factions and militias loyal to it in Iraq” for attacking what it described as “several border points” and a maritime oil drilling platform that belonged to the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. In Jordan, the kingdom’s military said it shot down four Iranian missiles in an incident that “resulted in zero casualties or material damage.” Jordan also hosts U.S. military forces and aircraft. These are the places where the grand strategy lands: sirens, interceptions, border points, drilling platforms, bases. The people living there don’t get a vote in any of it.
In Iran, authorities reported attacks in Hormozgan, Khuzestan and Markazi provinces and said at least two people were killed, according to state-run IRNA news agency. Semiofficial Iranian media also reported strikes in the eastern Sistan and Baluchestan province, which is on a coast of the Gulf of Oman. The state counts the dead. The states keep firing.
An Arab official told Haaretz that Iran's strikes aim to pressure Gulf states into pushing Washington to halt its attacks, a move the official said undermines mediation efforts. The renewed escalation between the United States and Iran, and the spread of the conflict into the Gulf states and the Strait of Hormuz, was described as confronting the region's governments with a difficult test. That “test” is the usual one: whether neighboring rulers can help contain the damage without losing their place in the hierarchy.
The U.S. later ended the latest round of airstrikes on Iran after Tehran's strikes on Gulf states were carried out. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei blamed Washington for the chaos gripping the region. He said Iran wouldn’t agree to visits by the International Atomic Energy Agency to nuclear sites the U.S. bombed in 2025, where Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium is believed to be entombed. Trump suggested last week that the interim deal in the war was “over” and the U.S. ended waivers allowing Iran to sell crude oil on the open market in U.S. dollars. Mediators, including Pakistan, Qatar and Egypt, have continued efforts to reach a final agreement to end the war. Iran and the U.S. are nearly halfway through the 60-day period in which they were supposed to negotiate such an agreement, which was also supposed to address Iran’s disputed nuclear program. The diplomats keep talking. The blockade keeps moving. The people under the missiles keep paying.