Smoke rises at an unknown location, following CENTCOM strikes on Iranian military targets, in this screengrab from a handout video released on July 11, 2026 [Handout/US Central Command via Reuters] By Al Jazeera Staff and The Associated Press Published On 12 Jul 202612 Jul 2026 Iranian missiles and drones targeted several Gulf states overnight and into Sunday morning, marking the latest escalation in the conflict between Tehran and Washington despite efforts to preserve a fragile truce.
The United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain reported missile and drone attacks on Sunday.
The barrage came hours after the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said it had struck about 140 military targets across Iran, including missile and drone launch sites, naval assets and ammunition storage facilities.
Iranian state media said one army officer was killed.
The latest exchange of attacks follows days of escalating tensions in the Strait of Hormuz.
On Saturday, Iran attacked a Cyprus-flagged container ship before the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that the strategic waterway was “closed until further notice”, saying no vessels would be allowed to transit.
All Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states except Saudi Arabia reported intercepting Iranian missiles or drones.
In Qatar, the Ministry of Interior reported that three people, including one child, were injured by falling shrapnel.
The gas-rich nation “strongly” condemned the renewed aggressions saying they represent a “dangerous escalation” that will undermine diplomacy.
In the UAE, authorities said the country’s air defence system was engaging with missiles and drones from Iran.
In a later statement, the UAE said the “missile threats” were outside its borders.
Meanwhile, missile alerts sounded for the third time on Sunday in Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet.
Kuwait’s military also said it was intercepting incoming fire.
The state-run Oman News Agency said drones targeted several sites in the sultanate’s Musandam governorate, an exclave jutting out into the Strait of Hormuz.
Advertisement The IRGC claimed it targeted a US radar site in Kuwait and destroyed a command-and-control centre and drone hangars at a US base in Jordan.
Authorities in Jordan said three Iranian missiles fell without causing any casualties.
Passage through the waterway has been a key sticking point in negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
Since joint US-Israeli strikes initiated the war in late February, Iran has effectively gained control of the bottleneck through which about a fifth of global energy exports used to pass before the conflict.
The move has pushed oil and gas prices to a multiyear high.
While Tehran has agreed to allow the resumption of traffic through the strait following a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with Washington in mid-June, it insists that vessels transit through a route it had approved to maintain a degree of control.
Ships that have attempted to use a different shipping lane which passes closer to the Omani coast have been attacked.
US President Donald Trump, who is in a rush to lower energy prices ahead of crucial midterm elections in November, has ordered strikes on Iran after attacks on shipping.
Last week, Trump said he believed the deal with Iran was “over”, though he later said he had consented to a request from Tehran to continue negotiations.
The latest violence followed Iran and Oman’s foreign ministers meeting on Saturday to discuss the issue of maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.
The narrow strait sits in the territorial waters of Iran and Oman, but has long been considered an international waterway, and before the war on Iran almost a fifth of the world’s oil passed through it.
Despite Sunday’s exchanges, Omani and Iranian officials said they would continue technical and political talks over navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, although Tehran stopped short of committing to unrestricted passage.
The US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28, killing the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was laid to rest this week.
