The United States launched military strikes on Iran and reinstated sanctions on Iranian oil sales after attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. and Iranian officials said.

U.S. Central Command said the strikes are intended to impose “heavy costs” on Iran, according to the BBC. The U.S. military launched fresh strikes, France 24 and Deutsche Welle reported.

The strikes followed attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, including an LNG carrier and an oil tanker, Reuters reported.

Oil waiver revoked

The administration of President Donald Trump reimposed sanctions on Iranian oil sales, Politico reported. The step revoked a temporary sanctions waiver on Iranian oil, the South China Morning Post reported.

Trump revoked the Iran oil-sales waiver after the Strait of Hormuz attacks, NOTUS reported. The Wall Street Journal editorial board backed ending the waiver.

Tehran cites MOU

Iran said the restoration of oil sanctions violates the memorandum of understanding that ended the war, the Times of Israel reported.

The sources do not specify the terms of that memorandum, when it was signed, or the parties to it. The war it ended is not detailed in the available reporting.

Why it matters

The Strait of Hormuz is the transit route for a large share of the world’s seaborne oil. Attacks on tankers there, and any U.S.–Iran escalation around it, carry immediate cross-border consequences for energy shipping and prices.

Reimposing oil sanctions removes Iranian barrels from legal export channels. That tightens supply for buyers in Asia and Europe and raises the cost of an already contested waterway.

Context

The strikes and sanctions mark a reversal of the arrangement that had paused the earlier conflict. Iran’s framing positions the oil measure, not only the strikes, as the breach.

Hypothesis: Washington is treating the tanker attacks as attributable to Iran and is responding with combined military and economic pressure. Supporting this: the strikes and the waiver revocation both followed the Hormuz attacks, per NOTUS, and CENTCOM cited “heavy costs.” Against this: the available reporting does not state who carried out the tanker attacks.

What to watch

  • Whether Iran retaliates militarily or restricts traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
  • Whether the MOU is formally declared void by either side.
  • How oil markets and Asian and European buyers respond to the reinstated sanctions.
  • Whether third states or the EU take a position on the strikes or the waiver revocation.
Key facts remain unconfirmed in the available reporting: attribution of the tanker attacks, the terms and signatories of the war-ending MOU, and the scale and targets of the U.S. strikes.