Iran declares strikes on US assets after 140 targets hit

Iran's military declared it will strike US assets and ships, escalating a conflict that has already drawn the US to hit 140 targets and pushed oil prices toward wartime highs of $120 a barrel.

"The era of one-sided deals is OVER," Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, speaker of Iran's Parliament and a main negotiator, wrote in a statement. "We told you: keep your word or pay the price."

The US struck about 140 targets including missile and drone launch sites over the weekend, President Donald Trump told NBC's "Meet the Press," after Iran attacked a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran retaliated by launching strikes on nations hosting US forces across the Middle East, including Bahrain — home to the US Navy's 5th Fleet — Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and Oman. Missile alert sirens sounded at dawn Monday in Bahrain.

The Strait of Hormuz handles about 21 percent of global oil trade, and the standoff has already driven crude to wartime highs of $120 a barrel. A return to full-scale hostilities would have "catastrophic consequences," UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, as the 60-day ceasefire agreed in April unravels.

Escalation timeline

The latest escalation began after Iran attacked three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz early last week, which the White House said violated a provision in the interim deal requiring Iran to arrange safe transit. Trump formally notified Congress on July 10 that military action restarted on July 7, under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which limits hostilities to 60 days unless Congress authorizes force.

The US has now conducted three rounds of strikes in the past week, with Sunday's barrage the heaviest. Trump said the strikes targeted "military sites that pose a threat to US forces and commercial shipping." Iran's new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, vowed in his first statement since succeeding his father that Iranians would avenge his killing.

Market fallout

Oil prices have dropped from wartime highs of $120 a barrel but remain elevated as traders price in supply disruption risk through the strait. The waterway once saw a fifth of all oil and natural gas pass through it, and Iran has used attacks on vessels to intimidate shippers into avoiding the route. The US military has responded by providing support to vessels along a southern route hugging Oman's coastline, a move that has angered Iran.

The last time the US and Iran engaged in sustained hostilities of this scale, in late February, oil surged past $120 and global equity markets sold off as the VIX spiked above 35. Mediators including Pakistan, Qatar and Egypt have continued efforts to reach a final agreement, with Pakistan's foreign minister urging "de-escalation" on both sides in a phone call with Iran's top diplomat Sunday.

Both the House and Senate passed a resolution last month seeking to limit Trump's ability to carry out further military action without congressional authorization. The president has argued he is acting under his constitutional authority, and the administration has called the War Powers Resolution's 60-day limit unconstitutional — a position that has never been tested in court.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.