US Widens Strikes Into Iran as Both Sides Block Strait of Hormuz and Exchange Fire

President Trump directed a widening of US military operations from the Iranian coastline into the interior after an earlier meeting with senior security staff in the Situation Room. The shift moves targets deeper inside Iran beyond initial strikes focused on control of the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy blocked four US-escorted tankers in the Strait of Hormuz through a combined missile and drone operation.

The same force shot down a US MQ-9 drone over the port city of Bushehr using a new advanced air defence system. Two oil tankers caught fire after passing through minefields in the southern Strait of Hormuz. US air strikes on parts of Hormozgan province killed three people and injured eight others.

Separate US projectiles landed outside the central city of Yazd with no casualties reported. The IRGC Navy stated the Strait of Hormuz is extremely unsafe and completely closed due to US aggression. Israeli forces killed at least seven Palestinians attending a funeral in Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp.

Yemen’s government condemned Iranian missile and drone attacks on Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Jordan as unjustified violations of sovereignty and international law. Saudi civil defence lifted a warning for residents of Al-Kharj and Yanbu governorates at 23:40 GMT on 2026-07-17 after the danger passed.

Four members of The Elders called on the UN Security Council to prevent the Netanyahu government from making Palestine disappear physically, economically, culturally and politically after visiting the occupied West Bank, Israel, Jordan and Lebanon.