Iran claims it has 'targeted' US amphibious assault ship and

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Iran claims it targeted the US amphibious assault ship LHA-7, pushing it to retreat into the southern Indian Ocean.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it also targeted a container ship which they said belonged to Israel with the identifier ‘SDN7’, without disclosing its location.

LHA-7, also known as the USS Tripoli, entered the Middle East in late March, according to US Central Command (CENTCOM).

The US has not made any comment so far on whether the warship was attacked.

The vessel is 844ft long, 106ft wide and is armed with four missile launchers, two automated gun mounts and seven machine guns.

It entered the Middle East carrying 3,500 sailors and Marines, as well as a complement of transport and fighter aircraft.

The USS Tripoli is the flagship of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit.

Little is known about the Israeli vessel that was hit by the IRGC.

LHA-7, also known as the USS Tripoli (pictured), entered the Middle East in late March

The vessel is 844ft long, 106ft wide and is armed with four missile launchers, two automated gun mounts and seven machine guns

It comes as Israel struck Iran’s largest petrochemical complex on Monday, as the Islamic republic defied threats from Donald Trump to devastate civilian infrastructure if it does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

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A separate Israeli strike also killed a senior Revolutionary Guards commander, while Iran launched drone and missile attacks against Israel, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

Iran said ‘much more devastating’ attacks would come if Trump followed through on his threat to hit civilian targets.

The US leader had on Sunday threatened to destroy Iranian bridges and power plants if Tehran does not bow to his demand to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping by Tuesday 8:00 pm (0000 GMT Wednesday).

Iran has all but blocked Hormuz, a vital energy chokepoint, sending oil and gas prices soaring and pushing countries around the world to enact measures to contain the fallout.

In a stark, expletive-laden social media post on Sunday, Trump demanded: ‘Open the F*****’ Strait, you crazy b*******, or you’ll be living in Hell.’

On Monday, Israel said it had struck Iran’s largest petrochemical facility in Assaluyeh on Iran’s Gulf coast, where local media reported multiple explosions.

The site accounted for about 50 percent of the country’s petrochemical production worth ‘tens of billions of dollars’, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said.

Ahead of the latest strikes, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Hormuz ‘will never return to its former status, especially for the US and Israel’.

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 5, 2026

The Guards posted on Telegram Monday that their intelligence chief Majid Khademi had been killed at dawn in US-Israeli strikes.

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‘We will reach anyone who seeks to harm us,’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, after Katz confirmed the country’s military was behind the strike.

Israel’s defence ministry also said it would ramp up production of Arrow missile interceptors, part of the country’s multi-layered air defences.

While the violence continued to spiral, reports surfaced of a potential push to halt the fighting.

Citing US, Israeli and regional sources, Axios said a deal mediated by Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey for a 45-day ceasefire to allow for negotiations on a more permanent peace was under discussion.

Egypt’s foreign minister Badr Abdelatty had on Sunday confirmed he was engaging in talks with governments across the region, as well as US envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi.

‘Views and proposals were exchanged on ways to deescalate the military situation in the region given the delicate juncture it is currently facing,’ a statement from his ministry said.

Trump told Fox News that Iran was ‘close’ to making a deal, but Tehran has repeatedly denied it is engaged in any negotiations with the US or Israel.

European Council chief Antonio Costa, one of the EU’s top officials, called in an X post for a ‘diplomatic solution’.

‘Any targeting of civilian infrastructure, namely energy facilities, is illegal and unacceptable,’ Costa said.

The war, which erupted on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran that killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has engulfed the Middle East and roiled the global economy.

A worldwide oil squeeze has hit aviation, with Indonesia on Monday saying it would increase a jet fuel surcharge and low-cost carrier Air Asia X announcing ticket price hikes of up to 40%.

South Korea will send ships to fetch oil from Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port of Yanbu, avoiding Hormuz altogether, a ruling party MP said, while Taiwan’s government said it too would take the Red Sea route.

Trump is due to give details in a press conference later Monday on the rescue of an airman whose fighter jet was downed by Iran.

Gulf nations allied with the US have also been sucked into the war. From Sunday to Monday they reported a wave of fresh strikes, with Kuwait saying six were hurt in an attack on a residential area.

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on the area of Ali al-Daher in southern Lebanon as seen from nearby Marjeyoun on April 6, 2026

The UAE said Monday its air defences were responding to a missile and drone attack, and that one person was injured in an industrial area of Abu Dhabi.

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In Jordan, the government agreed to begin compensating people whose property has been damaged by falling debris from drones and missiles, local media reported.

Iran has continued to launch attacks at Israel, where the military and medics said four bodies were recovered from a residential building in the northern city of Haifa that was struck by a missile.

In retaliation, Israel’s army said Monday it had completed a wave of strikes against targets in Tehran.

Iranian media reported several attacks on residential areas of Tehran, while the state broadcaster said gas outages hit parts of the capital after a strike on a university.

On another front, Lebanon has increasingly been dragged into the war since the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah targeted Israel on March 2.

Israel has struck back and invaded parts of southern Lebanon, with army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir visiting troops there Sunday and pledging to intensify strikes.