US launches new strikes on Iran after Hormuz tensions escalate

President Trump ordered new strikes on Iran overnight Saturday after the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps hit a ship near the Strait of Hormuz, according to U.S. Central Command.

The bombing comes as Trump administration officials grow pessimistic about ongoing negotiations with Tehran. On Friday, senior officials told reporters that a nuclear deal is increasingly unlikely and warned that there would be serious consequences if Iran didn’t guarantee safe passage of ships.

The White House wanted Iran to issue a statement declaring that the Strait of Hormuz is open and that it will stop attacking commercial vessels. Instead, the IRGC took aim at yet another ship seeking to transit the waterway near the coast of Oman—a route that has been cleared and promoted by the U.S. military—and declared the strait closed.

The military altercations over control of the strait are threatening to pick apart the interim deal that sought to bring an end to the conflict. Though Iranian negotiators have sought to move forward on talks, the Revolutionary Guard, Iran’s powerful paramilitary force, has undermined talks with repeated attacks, according to multiple U.S. officials.

The fresh round of U.S. strikes took aim at Iran’s radars, launchers, missile and drone storage depots and other military sites, according to a senior U.S. official. Explosions were reported along the coast of Iran, in places like Bandar Abbas and Chabahar near the Strait of Hormuz.

“Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay,” U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on social media.

A Cyprus-flagged container ship’s engine room was damaged by Iran’s attack and had a fire onboard, Centcom said. One civilian crew member is missing. The ship was hit with both a missile and drones, a senior U.S. official said.

Iran also took aim at other ships transiting the waterway, and the U.S. shot down a number of drones, the official said.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it fired warning shots because the ship was using an unauthorized route. It said it closed the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important shipping routes.

On Thursday, the U.S. military disputed Iran’s claims that it controls traffic in the vital waterway. Centcom said the U.S. had helped facilitate the successful transit of more than 800 commercial vessels and 380 million barrels of crude oil since early May, even as Iran threatened ships transiting without its permission.

Trump had signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran in June that called for pausing the war for 60 days and reopening the Strait of Hormuz to traffic while the two countries negotiated more difficult issues like Iran’s nuclear program. But hard-liners in Tehran have tried to control the crucial waterway since then, arguing that the interim agreement gave it the right to do so. It has warned ships to use only its approved route and aims to impose a toll system to monetize its influence over the strait, which before the war carried around a fifth of the world’s oil and gas.

Write to Shelby Holliday at shelby.holliday@wsj.com, Joseph Pisani at joseph.pisani@wsj.com and Laurence Norman at laurence.norman@wsj.com