U.S. and Iranian attacks continue as tensions mount on a key waterway in the Red Sea
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- U.S. Central Command launched its 11th consecutive night of airstrikes on Iran, targeting military operations centers, maritime capabilities, aircraft hangars, and drone storage facilities to degrade Iran's control over the Strait of Hormuz.
- Iran struck back at U.S. military targets in the Gulf and Jordan, hitting the Sheikh Isa air base in Bahrain (a U.S. Fifth Fleet logistics hub) and an eastern Jordan air base where three U.S. service members were killed last week.
- Iran-backed Houthis declared Bab el-Mandeb — a Red Sea waterway crucial for Saudi Arabia's exports — off limits to Saudi shipping, causing six ships to turn course and Saudi oil tankers to back out of the waterway Tuesday.
- Oil prices rose above $92 per barrel in Asian markets after Iran attacked a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed by Iran since the start of the war.
- President Trump threatened that any Iranian attack on ships in the Strait of Hormuz would trigger U.S. strikes on "ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT" in Tehran, while announcing plans to target a fortified underground site near a uranium enrichment facility.
- U.S. war casualties climbed to 18, with the Pentagon identifying Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park, N.Y., as the third service member killed in the Jordan attack.
- Iran buried 32 victims — identified by DNA testing — of a Feb. 28 U.S. airstrike on an elementary girls' school that Iran says killed 168 students and teachers; independent investigations by Forensic Architecture and Sky News found U.S. weapons targeting a nearby military compound destroyed the school.
Why it matters: The simultaneous closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran and the new Houthi threat to Bab el-Mandeb disrupts two of the world's most critical oil-shipping corridors, pushing crude above $92 per barrel. With U.S. casualties at 18 and Trump rejecting Iran's diplomatic overture despite Pakistan-mediated talks, the conflict's economic and human costs are mounting without a diplomatic off-ramp visible.
