The Middle East is again on edge after the first exchange of fire between the U.S. and Iran in over a month triggered missile launches and a spike in global oil prices. President Trump responded by declaring Iran a "failed nation" and shared an AI-generated video of an Iranian energy hub under attack. Liz Landers reports.

For perspective on the latest developments in the war with Iran, Amna Nawaz spoke with retired U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery and Michelle Wiese Bockmann, an analyst at Windward, a London-based maritime intelligence company.

The U.S. military said its attacks against Iran were in response to a threat to the Strait of Hormuz.

© Reuters

Washington says it acted after observing Iran was planning to deploy fresh mines in strait of Hormuz

The US and Iran have exchanged fire for the first time in a month, with missiles and drones fired at Iranian rocket launchers on an island in the strait of Hormuz, and Iran targeting US military bases in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates in response.

The US president, Donald Trump, on Monday threatened further action. The US is to trying to prise open Tehran’s grip on shipping going through the strait, which before the war accounted for a fifth of the world’s seaborne energy supply. Washington claimed that Iranian control over the waterway had been loosened by repeated US attacks on Iranian missile launchers and radars.

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© Photograph: Majid Asgaripour/Reuters

© Photograph: Majid Asgaripour/Reuters

© Photograph: Majid Asgaripour/Reuters

Washington says it acted after observing Iran was planning to deploy fresh mines in strait of Hormuz

The US and Iran have exchanged fire for the first time in a month, with missiles and drones fired at Iranian rocket launchers on an island in the strait of Hormuz, and Iran targeting US military bases in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates in response.

The US president, Donald Trump, on Monday threatened further action. The US is trying to prise open Tehran’s grip on shipping going through the strait, which before the war accounted for a fifth of the world’s seaborne energy supply. Washington claimed that Iranian control over the waterway had been loosened by repeated US attacks on Iranian missile launchers and radars.

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© Photograph: Majid Asgaripour/Reuters

© Photograph: Majid Asgaripour/Reuters

© Photograph: Majid Asgaripour/Reuters

The renewed attacks were the latest sign that the war that began six months ago appears far from over.

© Reuters

The exchange on Sunday was the first known military action between the two nations in a month, raising the risk of a renewed round of fighting.

© Arash Khamooshi/Polaris for The New York Times

US targets Iran’s Larak Island in first exchange of fire in more than a month as Masoud Pezeshkian says America ‘has not fulfilled its commitments’

• First US military attacks on Iran in a month prompt retaliation

Coinciding with this week’s G20 meeting, the EU has issued a statement saying it will work with the US and other allied countries to maintain economic pressure against Iran.

“The ‌EU welcomes efforts at ensuring that Iran ceases its destabilising activities and engages in peace negotiations with good ‌faith, also through additional economic pressure, including through ​the US-led Operation Economic Outcast,” it said in reference to the pressure strategy the White House describes as “an unprecedented campaign to sever every remaining economic lifeline sustaining” the Islamic republic.

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© Photograph: Reuters

© Photograph: Reuters

© Photograph: Reuters

Iran responded to an assault on its Larak Island by targeting US bases in Jordan

• Trump threatens further action as US and Iran exchange fire in new flare-up

Coinciding with this week’s G20 meeting, the EU has issued a statement saying it will work with the US and other allied countries to maintain economic pressure against Iran.

“The ‌EU welcomes efforts at ensuring that Iran ceases its destabilising activities and engages in peace negotiations with good ‌faith, also through additional economic pressure, including through ​the US-led Operation Economic Outcast,” it said in reference to the pressure strategy the White House describes as “an unprecedented campaign to sever every remaining economic lifeline sustaining” the Islamic republic.

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© Photograph: Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

The fighting comes just days after the Trump administration said it would turn its focus to increasing economic pressure — rather than military action — to try to end its war with Iran.

US says it attacked Larak Island to prevent launch of sea mines, prompting reprisals against airbases used by US forces, with tanker fire also reported in strait

Iran has launched retaliatory strikes on airbases in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates after the US attacked Iranian rocket launchers in the strait of Hormuz, the first such hostilities in a month.

Hours later, Iranian state TV later reported that a supertanker had caught fire after hitting two naval mines while attempting to pass through the southern side of the strait. It ‌did not identify the vessel or provide information ​about its crew.

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© Photograph: Maxar Tech/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Maxar Tech/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Maxar Tech/AFP/Getty Images

US attacks Iranian rocket launchers on island in strait of Hormuz and Tehran targets US bases in Jordan and UAE

The US has reverted to military attacks on Iran for the first time in a month, firing missiles and drones at Iranian rocket launchers on an island in the strait of Hormuz, prompting the Iranian military to attack US military bases in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.

US Central Command said it acted late on Sunday after it detected the Iranians planning to fire fresh mines into the strait. Last week Donald Trump claimed the US navy had cleared the strait of mines for the first time since the conflict started on 28 February, a claim the Iranians rejected as lies.

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© Photograph: Maxar Tech/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Maxar Tech/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Maxar Tech/AFP/Getty Images

As with its approach to Hormuz, the US has mistaken applying pressure for an actual strategy. But Tehran has chips of its own to play

Donald Trump has found a new way to promise victory over Iran. After months of war have failed to force Iran’s capitulation or collapse, his administration has unveiled what the US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, calls Operation Economic Outcast: an effort to cut it off from what remains of the global economy and threaten foreign governments, banks and companies with sanctions if they continue doing business with Tehran.

There is no question that Iran is vulnerable. Its economy has been battered by years of sanctions, war and a months-long US naval blockade. Iranian officials acknowledge that oil exports and access to foreign currency have been severely constrained. Ordinary Iranians are already enduring high inflation, currency depreciation and worsening living standards. Further economic strangulation will inflict significant additional hardship.

Sina Toossi is a senior non-resident fellow at the Center for International Policy, where his work focuses on US-Iran relations, US policy toward the Middle East and nuclear issues

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© Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

© Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

© Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

The war has deteriorated over the past six months into Mr. Trump’s own version of a “forever war,” with no clear goals and no end in sight.

© Kenny Holston/The New York Times

Oil companies and governments are consuming their once vast stockpiles as Iran and the United States continue to struggle for control over the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranians have become increasingly desperate, as they grapple with an economic crisis made worse by the conflict and grow increasingly skeptical about President Trump’s motives.

© Arash Khamooshi/Polaris for The New York Times

How markets have moved six months into the war, and where they might be headed in the future.

© Angela Weiss/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Iranians have become increasingly desperate, as they grapple with an economic crisis made worse by the conflict and grow increasingly skeptical about President Trump’s motives.

© Arash Khamooshi/Polaris for The New York Times

From the first US and Israeli strikes six months ago to the battle for Hormuz, this timeline plots how Trump’s war on Iran quickly became a regional conflict with global economic consequences

On 28 February 2026, the US and Israel began large-scale strikes on Iran. Tehran responded by attacking Israeli and US allies across the Gulf.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, was killed on the first day of strikes, and the strait of Hormuz – a crucial waterway for transporting oil – was effectively closed soon after. The conflict quickly became a regional war with global economic consequences.

Donald Trump: EPA/Trump Vance transition team

US CENTCOM: AP

Abbas Araghchi: AP

Esmail Baqaei: Getty/Anadolu

Masoud Pezeshkian: AP

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf: Getty/NurPhoto

Iran flag: Alamy

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© Composite: Prina Shah for the Guardian / AP / AFP / Getty Images

© Composite: Prina Shah for the Guardian / AP / AFP / Getty Images

© Composite: Prina Shah for the Guardian / AP / AFP / Getty Images

There still is no off-ramp in sight despite President Donald Trump's repeated assertions that the war has been won or a deal to resolve it was nearly complete.