US steps up strikes as Iran threatens to halt Mideast energy exports

<p>The US reimposed a <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/07/15/us-reimposes-blockade-trump-threatens-to-strike-irans-infrastructure/" target="_blank">naval blockade on Iran</a> and intensified its airstrike campaign overnight in retaliation for <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/07/12/us-strikes-iran-over-hormuz-ship-attack-tehran-lashes-out-again-at-gulf-states/" target="_blank">Tehran's attacks on ships</a> trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. </p> <p>The American strikes hit an Iranian army barracks, killed at least seven troops and wounded hundreds of people across the country, Iranian officials said.</p> <p>Days of <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/07/13/iran-tells-us-amid-strikes-keep-your-word-or-pay-the-price/" target="_blank">back-and-forth strikes</a> by the US and Iran across the Middle East — and <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/07/14/us-resumes-strikes-on-iran-as-tehran-hits-uae-tankers-and-bahrain/" target="_blank">renewed threats</a> to the waterway crucial to global energy supplies — have shredded the <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/06/18/what-do-iran-and-the-us-gain-from-their-deal-heres-what-to-know/" target="_blank">interim deal</a> to end the conflict and the region could tip back into all-out war.</p> <p>The US first imposed a blockade in April and then lifted it last month after <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/06/30/a-look-at-the-trickiest-issues-in-the-unresolved-iran-us-conflict/" target="_blank">signing the interim deal</a> that paused the fighting and set a 60-day period for negotiations over issues such as <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/06/17/tehrans-nuclear-programme-still-to-be-negotiated-in-interim-us-iran-deal/" target="_blank">Iran’s nuclear programme</a>.