The war between the United States and Iran entered its sixth month this week, with fresh Iranian strikes on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and a drone attack on a Kuwaiti air base pushing an already volatile Gulf crisis toward a more dangerous phase.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) struck two tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz on July 31 as they moved under US naval escort, and forced four additional vessels to divert course, according to reports from the region. The IRGC described the action as retaliation for what it called « the recent aggression by the terrorist U.S. military, » a reference to a wave of American strikes earlier in the week.
Separately, drones targeted Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base in southern Kuwait, hitting fighter aircraft shelters, satellite communications equipment and storage facilities, officials said. Kuwait’s defense ministry confirmed it had detected and intercepted the hostile drones, adding that falling debris caused material damage but no casualties. Earlier strikes in the Strait of Hormuz region killed three members of a single family on Qeshm Island, according to local reports.
The escalation follows joint US-Saudi strikes on Iran-backed militants in Iraq earlier in the week that killed at least 20 fighters, including five members of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to officials briefed on the operation.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil shipments normally pass, has been effectively closed by Iran since the war began on February 28, 2026. US Central Command said it has redirected 24 commercial vessels since reimposing a naval blockade on Iranian ports, underscoring the scale of disruption to regional energy trade.
On Capitol Hill, the conflict is also testing political patience. The US Senate on July 31 narrowly rejected, by a vote of 49 to 50, a war powers resolution that would have curtailed the president’s authority to continue military operations against Iran without congressional approval — a sign of how divided Washington remains six months into the campaign.
The military escalation comes even as the Trump administration presses ahead on a separate diplomatic track in Gaza, where the president’s « Board of Peace » initiative has secured what the White House calls a historic agreement for the phased disarmament of Hamas, matched with an Israeli withdrawal. Hamas has said implementation of the deal’s second phase depends on Israel fully carrying out the first, including a complete troop pullback and an end to attacks.
For Gulf states caught between Washington and Tehran, the widening confrontation raises the risk of the conflict drawing in third parties. Kuwait’s measured response — intercepting the drones without immediate retaliation — reflects the delicate balancing act facing US allies in the region as the Strait of Hormuz crisis shows no sign of abating.
