Fresh attacks on Iran’s Qeshm Island and new reports of strikes inside Kuwait pushed the Strait of Hormuz crisis into another dangerous turn Sunday, widening a fight that had already drawn direct U.S. strikes, Iranian retaliation and warnings over one of the world’s most important shipping lanes.
Iranian state media reported that at least 10 “enemy projectiles” hit Qeshm Island, Iran’s largest island and a strategic point in the Strait of Hormuz. Hossein Amir Teymouri, the governor of Qeshm township, told IRNA that 10 to 11 projectiles had struck the island since Sunday afternoon, with official sources saying the targets were military and no casualties were reported there.
The fresh island strikes were reported by The New Indian Express and The Straits Times, both citing AFP and Iranian state media. They came after U.S. and Iranian forces had already exchanged fire over an attack on a commercial vessel in the strait.
Qeshm Brings the Fight Back to the Strait
Qeshm matters because of where it sits. The island lies inside the same narrow Hormuz corridor that has become the core dispute between Washington and Tehran, with Iran saying the strait is closed and the United States insisting that ships are still moving through an international waterway.
Iranian state media also reported strikes on Farur Island, east of Qeshm, saying one telecommunications worker was killed and two colleagues were wounded. According to the same reports, explosions were also heard around Bandar Abbas and Hajjiabad in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province.
The attacks were not immediately claimed. That uncertainty matters: the latest reports describe not only a continuation of the U.S.-Iran exchange, but a murkier phase in which additional strikes are being reported around Iranian islands, ports and Gulf infrastructure while each side contests who controls Hormuz.
Kuwait Reports Border and Offshore Attacks
Kuwait also reported damage from fresh attacks Sunday evening. According to AFP-cited reporting in The Straits Times, three northern land border posts were damaged and an offshore drilling platform was targeted by a hostile drone, injuring one person.
The Kuwait reports broaden the crisis beyond the immediate U.S.-Iran exchange. Earlier in the day, Iran said it had targeted regional sites linked to U.S. interests after American strikes on Iranian military targets. Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and other Gulf states had already reported alerts, interceptions or impacts tied to Iranian missile and drone activity.
Oman’s role is especially sensitive. Muscat had hosted Iran’s foreign minister for talks on Hormuz just before the latest escalation, then summoned the Iranian ambassador and issued a formal protest after attacks were reported in Oman. The sultanate has been trying to mediate between Washington and Tehran while also sitting directly across the waterway from the Iranian coast.
U.S. Says Hormuz Is Still Open
The latest exchange followed an Iranian strike on a Cyprus-flagged container ship in the Strait of Hormuz. The vessel caught fire, its crew abandoned ship and one Indian sailor was reported missing. Oman said 23 crew members were rescued.
The U.S. military responded with a much larger round of strikes. The Guardian reported that U.S. Central Command said American forces hit 140 Iranian targets, including missile and drone sites, naval facilities, ammunition depots, communications networks and surveillance locations.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until the end of U.S. interference in the region. CENTCOM rejected that claim, saying the strait remained open and that traffic was still flowing. The U.S.-run Joint Maritime Information Center separately said traffic was moving at reduced levels.
That contradiction is now the central risk. Iran is trying to turn Hormuz control into leverage. Washington is treating that claim as a direct challenge to freedom of navigation. The reported hits on Qeshm, Farur and Kuwait show the fight is no longer only about individual ships. It is becoming a broader contest over the infrastructure, islands and bases that shape access to the strait.
Diplomacy Is Running Out of Room
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged both sides to stop the renewed fighting and return to talks. His spokesman said the attacks “must stop,” referring to U.S. strikes on Iran, Iranian attacks on ships and attacks on U.S. allies in the Gulf.
For now, the diplomatic track looks fragile. The earlier interim framework was supposed to create space for talks over shipping, sanctions and Iran’s nuclear program. Instead, repeated ship attacks, U.S. retaliation and Iranian strikes across the Gulf have pulled the crisis back toward open escalation.
The Qeshm reports add a new warning sign: even while Washington says Hormuz is open, the terrain around it is now being hit. That makes the strait not just a shipping problem, but the main battlefield of the Iran crisis.