The United States and Iran have each claimed control of the Strait of Hormuz following a weekend of escalating attacks across West Asia, raising fresh concerns over regional security and efforts to revive diplomacy. The latest escalation began after Iran struck a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Oman yesterday.

Since then, no commercial vessels have passed through the strategic waterway, a key route for global oil and gas shipments.

The United States has said, it carried out overnight strikes on several Iranian military targets, including air defence systems, coastal radar sites, missile and drone facilities, and small naval vessels. Washington said the operation, which reportedly included one-way attack sea drones for the first time, was in response to Iran’s attacks on commercial shipping.

Iran, in turn, said it targeted US military bases in Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait, as well as radar installations in Oman. The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow entrance to the Persian Gulf through which nearly one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and significant volumes of natural gas pass, has remained at the centre of the conflict, with shipping severely disrupted amid continued attacks and rising tensions.