Strait of Hormuz crews balk as U.S. and Iran trade new claims

Ship crews near the Strait of Hormuz are refusing risky voyages as the U.S. and Iran ramp up military action across the region, according to a Greek maritime risk executive.

Dimitris Maniatis, CEO of maritime risk management firm Marisks, told a Lloyd’s List intelligence briefing Thursday that the breakdown of the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding has sent crews back into fear mode around one of the world’s most sensitive shipping lanes.

Maniatis said some vessels that had been stuck in the Persian Gulf had managed to leave before the latest escalation. After recent attacks, he said, transits through the strait had dropped and commercial ships had faced deadlier danger since the ceasefire ended.

“We’ve gone back to the worst case scenario. Nobody is willing to move,” Maniatis said, adding that crew decisions are now being driven by fear rather than pay or incentives.

The market has noticed. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose about 1% Thursday to around $85 a barrel, its highest level in a month, while U.S. benchmark crude traded just under $80 a barrel after a similar increase.

U.S. says it hit dozens of Iranian targets

U.S. Central Command said the American military carried out another round of strikes in Iran early Friday local time, marking the sixth straight night of U.S. attacks since the fragile ceasefire collapsed last week.

CENTCOM said fighter jets, drones and warships hit “dozens of Iranian military targets,” including coastal surveillance and air defense sites, military logistics infrastructure and maritime capabilities. The command also said more than 50,000 U.S. military personnel are deployed across the Middle East.

Iranian state media reported that U.S. strikes early Friday hit an airport, a railway station and two bridges, killing three people. State TV said two bridges in Hormozgan province were struck, killing three and wounding nine.

Iranian broadcaster IRIB said explosions were heard near Iranshahr airport in southeastern Iran and that at least one U.S. projectile hit the airport. Mehr news agency said the Bandar Abbas Railway Junction Station was targeted, injuring two Iranians. State media also said another U.S. attack wounded one person in the western port city of Bushehr.

Iran claims attacks on U.S. sites

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed Friday that it launched a new series of strikes on U.S. military facilities in the Middle East. U.S. officials did not immediately confirm any impacts, and Iranian forces have often overstated battlefield claims.

The IRGC claimed it attacked a U.S. special forces base in al-Tanf, Syria, damaging helicopters and causing casualties. It also claimed strikes on an American base and logistical support sites in Kuwait, radar facilities on Oman’s Salamah Rocks in the Strait of Hormuz, a U.S. Army base in Bahrain and U.S. aircraft in Jordan.

Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy said Friday that Iranian strikes hit power and water desalination stations. Qatar’s Interior Ministry said a child was wounded by shrapnel after an Iranian weapon was intercepted.

In the Gulf of Oman, CENTCOM said U.S. Marines boarded the commercial vessel M/T Wen Yao on Thursday to enforce a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports that President Trump reinstituted earlier this week. CENTCOM said three commercial vessels have been redirected since Tuesday and one oil tanker, the Curacao-flagged M/T Belma, has been disabled.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration is still holding peace talks with Iran, but she did not answer whether Trump sees the talks as stalled or dead. Leavitt said the recent U.S. strikes followed Iran’s alleged violation of the memorandum of understanding by firing on commercial vessels moving through the Strait of Hormuz.

This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.