Trump, Iran's supreme leader trade threats
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Iran's new supreme leader and President Trump traded threats on Saturday after the U.S. military battered Iran and Iran fired upon vessels sailing through the Strait of Hormuz. Olivia Rinaldi reports.
An Iranian missile has struck a commercial cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, prompting Iran’s military to declare the waterway closed and U.S. Central Command to announce new strikes on the country.
The attack, which occurred early Sunday local time, comes after the collapse of a fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran. It also comes less than 48 hours after the Trump administration demanded that Iran guarantee safe passage for ships traveling through the strait.
According to German state outlet Deutsche Welle, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s navy said via Telegram that the ship was struck by one of the “warning shots” fired at several ships moving through an unauthorized route in the strait.
“The Strait of Hormuz is closed until further notice and until the end of America’s interventions in the region, and no vessel will be permitted to pass through,” the Guard’s statement said, according to Deutsche Welle.
The statement continued that any “new act of aggression against us … will be met with a severe response, and new enemy bases in the region will be targeted.”
US launches new strikes
In an X post at 7:39 p.m. Saturday, U.S. Central Command said it launched fresh strikes on Iran in response to the incident. The post identified the ship as the GFS Galaxy, a “Cyprus-flagged container ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”
CENTCOM said a civilian crew member was missing from the vessel, which “is unable to continue the journey due to an onboard fire and significant engineroom damage.”
At 7:15 p.m. ET today, U.S. Central Command forces began launching the third round of strikes this week against Iran after Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces blatantly attacked M/V GFS Galaxy, a Cyprus-flagged container ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz. A civilian crew…
, U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) July 11, 2026
“Iran was provided yet another opportunity to demonstrate adherence to the Memorandum of Understanding after being held accountable for earlier attacks on commercial vessels but has again failed,” CENTCOM posted on X.
“In response, the United States is imposing a heavy cost by continuing to degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the strait,” CENTCOM continued. “The strikes are being carried out at the direction of the Commander in Chief.”
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As of 9 p.m. Saturday, President Donald Trump has not publicly addressed the incident.
The incident occurred hours after Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi concluded negotiations in Oman to resolve the Hormuz standoff with his Omani and Qatari counterparts. A diplomat told Axios that Oman had proposed the full reopening of all shipping lanes before Iran struck the vessel in the strait’s southern shipping route through Oman’s territorial waters, which the U.S. urges mariners to use when passing through the strait.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.