Iran Threatens to Halt Energy Exports  07/15 06:12

   The U.S. reimposed a naval blockade on Iran and intensified its airstrike 
campaign Wednesday in retaliation for Tehran's attacks on ships trying to pass 
through the Strait of Hormuz. The American strikes hit an Iranian army 
barracks, killed at least seven troops and wounded more than 260 people across 
the country, Iranian officials said.

   DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- The U.S. reimposed a naval blockade on 
Iran and intensified its airstrike campaign Wednesday in retaliation for 
Tehran's attacks on ships trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. The 
American strikes hit an Iranian army barracks, killed at least seven troops and 
wounded more than 260 people across the country, Iranian officials said.

   Days of back-and-forth strikes by the U.S. and Iran across the Middle East 
-- and renewed threats to the waterway crucial to global energy supplies -- 
have shredded the interim deal to end the conflict and the region could tip 
back into all-out war.

   The U.S. first imposed a blockade in April and then lifted it last month 
after signing the interim deal that paused the fighting and set a 60-day period 
for negotiations over issues like Iran's nuclear program. Those talks have 
stalled as fighting over the Strait of Hormuz has intensified.

   When the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran 
effectively closed the waterway to shipping traffic -- a move that sent the 
price of oil, fertilizer and many other goods soaring far beyond the region and 
gave Iran major leverage in negotiations. Those rising prices pose a particular 
challenge to U.S. President Donald Trump and his Republican Party, which hopes 
to retain control of Congress in elections in November -- but Washington has 
struggled to successfully reopen the waterway.

   Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened Wednesday to halt all 
energy exports from the Middle East over the blockade.

   "The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or 
for no one," it said.

   Both the US and Iran launch attacks as the blockade is reimposed

   The U.S. carried out a wave of strikes, hitting dozens of targets over seven 
hours overnight, the military's Central Command said Wednesday. Later, it 
resumed striking Iran during daylight -- an usual move that further signaled 
the increasing tempo in attacks.

   One strike targeted a barracks for Iran's 388th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, 
which operates tanks and armored vehicles, in Sistan and Baluchestan province, 
Iranian state television reported. The report said the Americans fired at least 
13 missiles in the attack and that the seven dead included conscripts and 
career soldiers. A number of troops were wounded.

   Including those at the barracks, more than 30 people have been killed in 
recent days, Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said, without 
elaborating.

   Hossein Kermanpour, a spokesperson for the Health Ministry, meanwhile, said 
over 260 people were wounded in overnight strikes alone -- a figure far larger 
than for any other round of recent violence between Iran and the U.S. He did 
not say how many people were killed overnight.

   The army said it would make "a decisive response to this aggressive action 
by the American enemy," according to state TV.

   Missile alert warnings sounded in Bahrain and Kuwait early Wednesday as they 
faced incoming Iranian fire -- a daily occurrence in recent days. Jordan said 
it shot down three incoming Iranian missiles. Iran claimed attacks on the three 
nations, all of which host U.S. forces.

   U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads Central Command, said in a statement 
that Iran had launched dozens of missiles and drones at neighboring Gulf Arab 
countries.

   Trump told the Fox News Channel on Tuesday night that more U.S. strikes 
against Iran would come over the next two days and that bridges and power 
plants could be targeted by next week unless negotiations resume. Already, the 
U.S. has struck at least one bridge.

   "You better make a deal, or you're not going to have anything left," Trump 
warned.

   Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, criticized 
America's attacks.

   "The U.S. is the aggressor, not the victim," he wrote to the world body's 
leader, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

   The Strait of Hormuz remains at the heart of the fighting

   The latest round of fighting is focused on the Strait of Hormuz, through 
which a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas trade passes during peacetime. 
How to reopen the strait has bedeviled the U.S. since Iran choked it off in the 
early days of the war.

   During the interim deal, some ships began moving through the passage using a 
route near Oman overseen by the U.S. military that is outside Tehran's control.

   In recent days, Iran attacked ships using that route -- and back-and-forth 
attacks ensued. The U.S. has threatened to reopen the strait by force -- but 
experts say that would require a much bigger armada if not tens of thousands of 
ground troops. Imposing the blockade is another way to put pressure on Iran.

   The price for Brent crude oil, the international standard, traded above $85 
a barrel on Wednesday -- more than 15% higher than the price before the war, 
but still well below the nearly $120 reached at the height of the conflict.

   When Trump announced the return of the blockade Monday, he also said he 
would impose a 20% fee on ships passing through the strait. But he dropped the 
plan to collect fees, citing requests from allies in the Persian Gulf.

   "They said we'd love to do it a different way. We'd love to invest in the 
United States with billions and billions of dollars," Trump told reporters 
Tuesday in the Oval Office.

   It was unclear if the investment deals would be new commitments relative to 
what Trump announced after a visit last year to the Middle East.

   Trump's plan to charge fees would have been a change to longstanding 
American policy and a departure from U.S. promises that the strait would remain 
open to all without tolls.

   Under the interim deal, Iran agreed that passage through the strait would 
remain free of charge for 60 days -- but the agreement left open what would 
happen after. Iran asserts it has the right to manage traffic and potentially 
charge fees. The U.S. has disputed that.

   Regional mediators meanwhile are still trying to get the United States and 
Iran back to the negotiating table.