Israel and Iran exchanged direct strikes on Monday in the most serious escalation since an April 8 ceasefire, reviving fears that the Middle East could slide back into open war. Israel said it struck around 15 targets in Iran, including what it described as a drone storage facility in Tehran, after Iranian forces fired three waves of ballistic missiles at central Israel.
Israeli authorities reported explosions over central Israel as air defenses worked to intercept the incoming barrages, and the military said the strikes inside Iran were a response to the missile fire. Iran, in turn, cast its launches as retaliation for Israeli operations against Beirut's southern suburbs, drawing the war in Lebanon directly into the confrontation. Yemen's Houthi movement added to the day's violence by launching a missile toward Israel.
The exchange marked the sharpest crossfire since the truce that paused the air war the United States and Israel began against Iran on Feb. 28, a campaign that killed Iran's supreme leader and battered its nuclear and military infrastructure. The April ceasefire was meant to ease the conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but it has frayed under near-daily incidents at sea, in the air and across Lebanon.
U.S. President Donald Trump urged restraint in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to officials, as Washington sought to keep a tentative arrangement to extend the U.S.-Iran ceasefire from unraveling before it could be finalized. That understanding, reached only last week, has not yet been completed, leaving the broader truce on uncertain footing.
Markets reacted immediately. Oil prices climbed as traders weighed the risk to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint through which roughly a fifth of the world's seaborne oil passes and which has remained effectively closed under a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports. Brent crude briefly pushed higher before paring gains as both sides signaled they were not seeking all-out war.
Iranian officials reiterated that Tehran would maintain control over the strait and criticized fresh European Union sanctions, while saying they remained open to talks if Washington changed its approach. Trump has said the blockade will stay in place until a peace agreement is reached, leaving the two sides locked in a tense standoff even as missiles flew.
Regional capitals and shipping operators braced for further incidents, mindful that each round of strikes raises the risk of miscalculation. For now, diplomats were focused on preventing Monday's exchange from collapsing the ceasefire altogether, even as the fighting underscored how fragile the two-month-old pause has become.