Image source, Reuters

Tensions have spilled over again in the Gulf, following a string of attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. It's the worst exchange of fire between the US and Iran since they signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to end the conflict on 17 June. Here's what's happened this week.

Monday

• The UKMTO says a tanker travelling through the Strait of Hormuz reported a fire after being hit by an unknown projectile

Tuesday

• In two separate incidents, tankers report being hit in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has not directly claimed responsibility for either of these attacks, or the one on Monday
• The US military says it has "begun launching a series of powerful strikes against Iran", hitting more than 80 targets. This is in response to attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz in a "clear violation of the ceasefire", it says

Wednesday 8 July

Earlier

• Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announces it targeted US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait
• Nato chief Mark Rutte calls the American strikes "absolutely necessary"
• But Iran's speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf accuses the US of breaching the agreement between the two countries

Moments ago

• US President Donald Trump says that the ceasefire with Iran is "over", telling reporters at the Nato summit in Ankara: "I don't want to deal with them anymore, they're scum"

Multiple strikes on the city of Bandar Abbas overnight were captured on video, with several explosions visible and flames seen rising over a facility.

It is not clear from the footage what was being targeted by the US.

What we know about the three tankers struck in Strait of Hormuzpublished at 10:00 BST 8 July

10:00 BST 8 July

By Kayleen Devlin

The US military says it resumed strikes on Iran in response to attacks on three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

The first ship cited by the US, Al Rekayyat, is a Qatar-owned liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker. BBC Verify understands it was struck by a projectile off the coast of Oman on 6 July while transiting the strait.

The impact caused a fire on board, although no casualties have been reported. The vessel crossed with its automatic identification system (AIS) location signal switched off and was last identified in satellite imagery on 22 June near Qatar's main LNG export hub.

The second vessel, Wedyan, is a Saudi-owned crude oil tanker carrying Saudi crude. Its AIS signal has been switched off since 3 July.

The third mentioned by the US, Cyprus Prosperity, is a Liberia-flagged crude tanker which went through the strait with its location data switched on and was carrying oil to Fujairah port in the UAE.

UKMTO has confirmed three incidents but has not identified the vessels. The British maritime authority also says no casualties or environmental damage have been reported.

Emer Moreau
Business reporter

Oil traders have reacted quickly to Trump’s announcement that the ceasefire is “over”.

Just before he made those remarks, a barrel of oil was just under $76 (£57). At 0945 BST, it was over $78 (£58) and appears to be rising further.

As we reported earlier, oil prices had already been ticking upwards after Iran and the US traded strikes overnight.

Image source, Getty Images

Trump's comments on the US-Iran ceasefire began at around 09:15 BST, when a reporter at the Nato summit in Ankara asked: "Is the ceasefire over? Is the ceasefire done? Is the MoU dead?" (the memorandum of understanding, which extended the ceasefire, was agreed last month).

Trump replied: "It's a very interesting question. To me, I think it's over.

"I don't want to deal with them anymore, they're scum. You know what scum is? They're scum. They're sick people. They're led by sick people. And they're vicious, violent people.

"And if they had a nuclear weapon, they'd use it. As far as I'm concerned it's over.

"I'll speak to our negotiators, they want to negotiate, they're good people. Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, but they have to come back to me. As far as I'm concerned, it's just a waste of time dealing with them. They're liars.

"We make a deal. If I make a deal with him [pointing at Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte], we have a deal. He goes out, he talks. We [US and Iran] make a deal, everyone's agreed, no nuclear weapon.

"We make a deal. They [Iran] go outside, talk to the press, they say 'we never even talked about it'. There's something wrong with them. They're cuckoo. As far as I'm concerned, it's over."

Trump was then asked if talks will resume.

"I don't care, they can talk. But I think they're wasting their time. They're a bunch of lying guys."

Click play below to watch US President Donald Trump's remarks about Iran at the Nato summit in Ankara, Turkey.

Image source, Getty Images

Pressed further after declaring the US ceasefire with Iran "over", Trump says of his negotiating team: "They can talk, but I think they're wasting their time."

"Frankly, I don't want to waste my time with them," he adds.

Trump also says he will "let our wonderful negotiators keep talking if they want, but I don't see it".

Asked about the ceasefire between the US and Iran, Donald Trump says: "I think it's over."

He tells reporters at the Nato summit: "I don't want to deal with them anymore, they're scum."

"As far as I'm concerned, it's over," he adds. "It's just a waste of time dealing with them, they're liars."

Trump says negotiators from both sides "can talk" but are "wasting their time".

Trump praises Nato's secretary-general Mark Rutte, who he is speaking alongside, but says he is not "not happy" with the military alliance.

He says Nato allies "didn't want to help us with the number one state sponsor of terror, that's Iran".

"I'm very upset with Nato," Trump says, adding the US pays "too much, billions and billions of dollars too much".

Speaking at the Nato summit in Turkey, Donald Trump describes the Iranian regime as "evil people" and calls the administration "crazy", repeating the US position that Tehran can't be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon.

He points to attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, as well as strikes against targets in Kuwait and Bahrain.

"These are evil sick people," the US president continues. "They're cancer, and you know what you have to do - you have to cut out cancer early."

US President Donald Trump and Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte are speaking to reporters at the Nato summit in Ankara now - you can watch live at the top of the page, and we'll bring you the key lines here.

Image source, EPA

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has accused the US of a "flagrant violation" of the memorandum of understanding (MoU).

The US strikes, reinstatement of sanctions on Iranian oil sales and Israel's ongoing conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon have rendered "important and fundamental parts of the understanding on the cessation of the war ineffective", he says in a statement.

He adds that Iran "will not hesitate" to defend its "integrity, national sovereignty, and national security".

In a warning to Gulf countries which host US military bases, Araghchi says Iran will "target the source and point of origin" of any attacks.

New strikes have taken place in the Iranian port city Bushehr this morning, two semi-official Iranian news agencies are reporting.

Multiple explosions have been heard in Bushehr, south-west Iran, and surrounding areas, the Mehr news agency reports.

Meanwhile, a senior security official in Bushehr says "enemy projectiles" have struck two military headquarters, one in Dashti County and one near the city of Choghadak, according to the Fars news agency.

No casualties were reported, the official adds.

There have also been reports of an attack on Kharg Island - a major oil terminal off the coast of Iran - which Mehr says are not true.

Frank Gardner
Security correspondent

This is the worst exchange of fire between the US and Iran since the two countries signed their memorandum of understanding on 17 June.

But it does not, by itself, mean the tentative ceasefire has to end.

Neither nation wants a return to the full-scale conflict that raged for five weeks earlier this year.

It’s not clear why Iran targeted those three vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

Possibly it was to test the US reaction. Possibly it was to try to force ships to use its new designated route.

The strikes on Iranian coastal positions by the US in response were intended as a deterrent for any further Iranian attacks.

But now Iran’s response - launching munitions at Bahrain and Kuwait - is an uncomfortable reminder that peace and tranquility have not yet fully returned to the Gulf.

As well as launching a new round of strikes, the US has revoked its temporary authorisation of Iranian oil sales.

The US Treasury had waived sanctions on Iranian oil after the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to end the war last month.

The lifting of the decades-old sanctions allowed the sale of Iranian crude oil, petrochemical and petroleum products until 21 August.

Documents published, external by the US Treasury on Tuesday confirmed those restrictions are now back in place.

In a statement this morning, Iran's chief negotiator Mohammad Ghalibaf said the US had committed "major violations" of the MoU by "reinstating oil sanctions".

Iran's foreign ministry said in a statement that the move meant the MoU was "ineffective".

Emer Moreau
Business reporter

Oil prices have ticked up following the strikes: a barrel of Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose by more than 3% to $76 (£56.88).

Prices dropped back to pre-war levels following the US-Iran truce agreement signed last month.

But these fresh attacks will bring back concerns about the flow of traffic through the crucial Strait of Hormuz, which sees about a fifth of all the world's oil go through it under normal circumstances.

Gulf States have been reacting to strikes by Iran.

Kuwait's foreign ministry has condemned "repeated heinous Iranian aggressions" this morning.

In a statement, it says theses "brazen aggressions" undermine efforts to reduce tensions and strikes "at a time when regional and international efforts aimed at de-escalation are underway".

The foreign ministry says Kuwait reserves its right to "take all necessary measures" to protect its security.

Meanwhile Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari says it holds Iran "fully responsible" for an apparent targeted attack on a vessel called Al-Rekayyat as it transited near the strait on Tuesday.

And, in a separate social media post, Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry said Iran had targeted the Saudi tanker Wadyan as it crossed the strait.

Image source, Rex/Shutterstock

Iran's parliamentary speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Ghalibaf has accused the US of committing "major" violations of the memorandum of understanding signed between the two countries.

He says the US has violated "Iranian adjustments in the strait", continually threatened to attack Iran and reinstated oil sanctions.

Ghalibaf also says there have been further attacks on southern Iran and continued "aggression" by Israel in southern Lebanon.

"The era of bullying and extortion is over. It leads nowhere. We don't fold," he says in a post on X.

There are reports of alarms sounding in Bahrain this morning, as Iran's military says it is targeting US sites in the Gulf state.

"The naval and aerospace forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in a joint missile and drone operation, struck 85 key American military installations at Salman Port, the US Fifth Fleet area in Bahrain," the IRGC says in a statement.

The Iranian military also says it has targeted Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait.

It says this follows US military strikes launched against a "number of coastal bases coastal bases and civilian facilities along the coasts of Hormozgan Province and Mahshahr".

Amid the attacks, Bahrain's interior ministry has been sounding an alarm siren.

Image source, Reuters

Last night, the US launched strikes on Iran in response to attacks on three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian state media says US strikes hit Qeshm island, Bandar Abbas and Sirik.

The US says its strikes were in response to attacks by Iran on commercial vessels moving through the strait in recent days. Tehran has not directly claimed responsibility for those attacks.

UK Marine Trade Operations had said a tanker travelling through the strait had reported a fire after an unknown projectile hit an engine room on Monday.

In two separate incidents on Tuesday, a tanker reported being hit as it exited the strait but was able to proceed to its next port of call, while another tanker reported sustaining minor structural damage after being struck, the organisation said.