Iran Hits Bahrain and Jordan: The War Finds Its Second Front
Iran has struck targets in Bahrain and Jordan, per The Guardian, as the U.
Iran Hits Bahrain and Jordan: The War Finds Its Second Front
Iran has struck targets in Bahrain and Jordan, per The Guardian, as the U.S.-Iran conflict spreads beyond the Strait of Hormuz and into the broader Gulf region. American forces simultaneously hit port infrastructure in Bushehr and Bandar Abbas, while Iranian strikes on two tankers in the waterway continued through the night.
The expansion into Bahrain — home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet — and Jordan, a Hashemite monarchy that has quietly maintained ties to Washington for decades, marks a qualitative shift in the conflict's geography. Neither country is a combatant. Both are now absorbing fire.
Donald Trump, who had threatened a 20 percent transit fee for ships using the Strait of Hormuz, pulled back from that position after Gulf states signalled what the White House described as a commitment to "massive" U.S. investment. The waterway, he said, remains open to all vessels except Iranian ones — a distinction that means little to the tanker crews currently navigating it.
Iran aside, the regional architecture is fracturing in ways that Gulf diplomacy has spent fifteen years trying to prevent. Jordan's inclusion as a strike target signals Tehran is willing to punish Arab states for proximity to Washington, not just direct participation.
The late-July Federal Reserve meeting and the oil market's next move both now depend on whether this second front holds or widens.
