Strait of Hormuz threat level raised to ‘severe’ after Iran attacks tankers using US Navy route

In response to this rapidly deteriorating security situation, the United States military has completed an extensive series of strikes against Iranian targets, marking a dramatic intensification of hostilities in the Persian Gulf.

Michelle Wiese Bockmann, a senior maritime intelligence analyst at Windward, noted that the conflict is part of a "sporadic targeted campaign by Iran to destabilise that southern corridor and send a message to Gulf State producers that are not sending their oil via that northern corridor.” Meanwhile, the Iranian military command vowed a “crushing response” to what it termed U.