US blocks ships and strikes Iran as Hormuz war escalates

By Nadia Petrova · 2026-07-17

Blockade enforcement: three vessels turned back on 17 July

US Central Command said on 17 July 2026 that American forces redirected three commercial vessels that had attempted to breach the ongoing US naval blockade of Iran.^[1] CENTCOM published the announcement on its official channels without casualty figures and without naming the vessels or their flag states. It was the first publicly confirmed instance of commercial shipping being physically redirected under the blockade regime.

Operation Epic Fury, launched by US Central Command on 28 February 2026, underpins the naval blockade. CENTCOM began the campaign after a series of Iranian assaults on commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, and has conducted repeated air and maritime strikes since then to dismantle Iran's military infrastructure and assert freedom of navigation through the corridor.

IRGC's fifth-wave Bahrain strikes: claims and what remains unverified

Two days before the blockade enforcement action, the IRGC Navy claimed its fifth wave of Operation Nasr 2 struck the NSI Management Center, the Command and Control Center, major equipment warehouses and fuel depots belonging to the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain on 15 July 2026.verifiedVerified Source: tasnimnews.ir^[2] The operation was codenamed "YA Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS)".

The IRGC Navy Spokesperson said: "With the crushing operation of the IRGC Navy, it received a response to its evil deeds this morning. In the fifth wave of Operation Nasr 2, codenamed 'YA Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS)', the NSI management center, the command control center, major warehouses containing military parts and equipment, and fuel depots belonging to the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain were pounded and destroyed."^[2] US forces had not publicly confirmed the extent of the damage at the time of publication.

The claim could not be independently verified. IRGC operational announcements in earlier waves of Nasr 2 have mixed confirmed strikes with exaggerated damage assessments, and the US Department of Defense has declined to detail infrastructure losses at the Bahrain base throughout the conflict.

Hormuz closure and supertanker disablements: 12 to 14 July

The IRGC Navy declared the Strait of Hormuz closed "until further notice" on 12 July 2026, citing "foreign interference and the illegal designation of shipping lanes" near Oman.verifiedVerified Source: tasnimnews.ir^[6] The declaration carries no standing under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which enshrines the right of transit passage through international straits, though Iran has disputed the legal framework applied by US-aligned naval forces.

Two days after the closure declaration, the IRGC reported disabling two supertankers following what it described as an "illegal passage" through the strait on 14 July.^[3] The IRGC statement did not disclose the names of the vessels, their operators or their cargo. Confirmed at full scale, the disablements would represent a direct threat to crude oil supply chains that carry roughly 20% of global oil through the strait each day.

CENTCOM's 13 July strike wave: dozens of targets hit

US Central Command Public Affairs said on 13 July: "U.S. Central Command completed a new wave of offensive strikes against Iran yesterday, hitting dozens of targets at multiple locations with precision munitions to degrade Iran's ability to continue attacking international shipping flowing through the Strait of Hormuz."^[4]

US Central Command completed a new wave of offensive strikes hitting dozens of targets across multiple locations in Iran with precision munitions on 13 July 2026, stating the aim was to degrade Iran's capacity to attack international shipping.verifiedVerified Source: war.gov^[4] CENTCOM did not release a target list or a battle damage assessment. The pattern mirrors earlier phases of Operation Epic Fury, which targeted air defence networks, IRGC naval bases and missile storage sites across western and southern Iran.

Oil markets and Australian petrol prices: what the data shows

Australian fuel regulator data dated 8 July 2026 showed Brent crude trading at US$70 per barrel.^[5] That figure reflects a market that has absorbed significant risk without collapsing, held in check partly by demand softening in China and Europe and partly by coordinated strategic reserve releases among IEA member states.

Average retail petrol prices across Australia's five largest cities reached A$1.68 per litre on 8 July, a 6% rise week-on-week.^[5] The spread between the crude price and the pump price reflects domestic fuel tax settings, refining margins and the Australian dollar's depreciation against the US dollar since the conflict intensified in late June. Regulators said that domestic fuel tax relief measures had partially offset what would otherwise be a sharper pass-through from global crude movements.

Diplomatic and regional signals

No new ceasefire proposals from regional powers or permanent UN Security Council members had been publicly tabled as of 17 July. Iran has rejected prior US preconditions requiring a full halt to IRGC naval operations before any talks, while the US has maintained that strikes will continue until freedom of navigation through Hormuz is restored. Gulf Cooperation Council governments have stopped short of formally endorsing the US blockade, creating legal ambiguity over vessel interdiction in waters adjacent to their exclusive economic zones.

US mine-clearance operations in the strait, which began on 11 April 2026, continue alongside the strike campaign, signalling that Washington regards the threat as long-duration rather than resolvable through a single decisive engagement. CENTCOM's 17 July blockade enforcement action involved three vessels on a single day, the highest single-day redirection figure disclosed since the blockade was declared.

Nadia Petrova

Nadia Petrova covers breaking news and sport for Bushletter. Fast and verb-led, he writes with a news-wire cadence and no patience for PR spin.