# U.S.–Iran Strikes Put Gulf Bases and Hormuz Traffic Under Direct Military Pressure

*Monday, July 13, 2026 at 6:11 AM UTC — Hamer Intelligence Services Desk*

**Published**: 2026-07-13T06:11:53.286Z (2h ago)
**Category**: conflict | **Region**: Middle East
**Importance**: 10/10
**Sources**: OSINT
**Permalink**: https://hamerintel.com/data/articles/10953.md
**Source**: https://hamerintel.com/summaries

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**Deck**: Overnight U.S. airstrikes hit dozens of targets across Iran, including air defences and missile sites, prompting Iranian missile and drone attacks on U.S.-linked facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Jordan. Air raid sirens, interception claims and reports of explosions have pulled Gulf states and the Strait of Hormuz back to the front line of U.S.–Iran confrontation. Readers will see how this exchange reshapes risk for Gulf residents, U.S. forces and global energy flows.

A confrontation that Washington and Tehran had tried to manage in the shadows has broken back into the open air over the Gulf. Overnight into 13 July, the United States struck targets deep inside Iran, and Iran in turn launched missiles and drones at U.S.-linked bases and radar sites across several Gulf states, turning population centres and critical infrastructure into potential impact zones.

U.S. Central Command said American forces hit dozens of targets on Iranian territory, describing air defence systems, coastal radar sites, missile and drone facilities and small boats among the strikes. Iranian media reported explosions in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, on Qeshm Island, in Sirik and Jask along the Gulf of Oman, and in parts of Khuzestan province. Local accounts cited by Iranian outlets said one person was killed and four wounded at a water pumping station in Mahshahr, a facility that Tehran later accused the U.S. of targeting.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the regular army framed their response as a fifth wave of retaliation. In a series of statements, the IRGC claimed it struck U.S. military infrastructure in Juffair, Bahrain, including what it described as a drone command-and-control centre, a helicopter base and a Patriot air defence system at Sheikh Isa Air Base. It also asserted it destroyed long-range air surveillance and maritime radar sites in Oman, including an AN/FPS radar, and hit fuel tanks and a Patriot system at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait. None of these impact claims have been independently confirmed.

The tempo of alerts across the Gulf showed how quickly regional civilians were pulled into the risk envelope. Sirens sounded in Bahrain over the threat of Iranian missiles and drones, and a later all-clear suggested ballistic missiles were the main component of the attack on Sheikh Isa Air Base. In the United Arab Emirates, residents in Abu Dhabi reported hearing at least two explosions, with unconfirmed reports of air defence activity over the capital as speculation grew that Iran might be targeting vessels or installations linked to operations in the Strait of Hormuz. Heavy signal jamming was reported in the Strait itself, complicating navigation in one of the world’s most sensitive maritime corridors.

Jordan, which hosts U.S. forces and radars critical to regional missile defence, said its military intercepted four Iranian ballistic missiles during the day’s attacks. Officials and tracking indicated Iran had launched at least 12 missiles towards Jordan, implying that a minimum of eight reached Prince Hassan Air Base. If accurate, that would mean a roughly two-thirds impact rate on a base that is central to U.S. and allied operations – an uncomfortable data point for planners who have long relied on layered missile defence to contain Tehran’s reach.

Iran’s regular army added its own claims, saying that alongside the IRGC it sent drones at U.S. air defence positions, missile systems, shelters and support infrastructure in Kuwait. No Kuwaiti impacts have yet been confirmed, but together the Iranian statements amount to a blueprint of the American network Tehran sees as fair game: airbases, Patriot batteries, long-range radar and command nodes that support both regional deterrence and maritime surveillance.

For residents of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the UAE and Jordan, the effect is tangible: sirens, streaks in the sky, the possibility that a nearby base or radar mast is now a target. For sailors and tanker crews near Hormuz, the danger is more abstract but no less real – electronic jamming and the prospect that either side might strike, or misidentify, a vessel during a fast-moving exchange. Missile risk in Hormuz does not have to close the strait to matter; it only has to make navigators and insurers doubt they can read the sky and the signals around them.

Strategically, this round of strikes shows that the geographic depth Iran once counted on is eroding. U.S. missiles reaching sites across Khuzestan and the Gulf coast, and Iranian missiles reaching U.S.-linked bases in four countries in a single day, compress the battlespace and leave host nations managing escalation they do not fully control. The reported strike near the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, which U.S. media and activists said landed just meters from the facility, also illustrates how quickly military targeting can edge toward nuclear infrastructure, however unintentionally.

The next signs to watch are whether Washington declares this a finite punitive operation or signals readiness for more, and how Gulf capitals calibrate public positions after their territory became a corridor for Iranian fire. Concrete indicators will include any visible disruption to shipping patterns through the Strait of Hormuz, adjustments to U.S. basing or air defence posture in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Jordan, and whether Iran continues to fire at U.S.-linked sites beyond what it describes as retaliation for this specific U.S. strike package.