Skip to content
Welcome, thoughtbot's Giant Robots listeners!Start here
Russia-Ukraine War 2026
12OCT

140 US sorties, zero signed paper

3 min read
10:59UTC

CENTCOM flew its third strike wave in a week, hitting roughly 140 targets and taking the total past 300, then declared the Strait of Hormuz open even as Washington signed no new Iran instrument.

ConflictDeveloping
Key takeaway

Washington's Iran week ran to 140 sorties and zero signatures, its open-strait claim resting on statements.

CENTCOM (US Central Command), the US military command responsible for the Middle East, launched its third strike wave of the week within hours of Iran's closure declaration, hitting roughly 140 targets: missile batteries, air-defence sites, IRGC fast-attack boats and positions on Qeshm Island⁠1. The wave took the week's running total past 300, and CENTCOM called the strait open to all vessels seeking to lawfully transit the international waterway⁠2. Iranian Navy Lieutenant Hamidreza Dehghani was reported killed at Jask port, per Iranian state media⁠3.

Those figures and the open-strait line reached us through Al Jazeera and Iran International secondary readouts; CENTCOM's own release was unreachable⁠4. President Donald Trump, who days earlier had called the interim US-Iran agreement over, told Meet the Press the strait was open as far as he was concerned. Iran, firing missiles and posting a formal notice, calls the water shut; Washington, flying sorties and issuing a sentence, calls it open.

CENTCOM's third wave extends a cadence already run twice this week, 90 targets on 8 July and more than 80 on 7 July. The only signed US instrument on Iran across that whole sequence remains the Treasury's 7 July revocation of the oil waiver General License X, replaced by a wind-down-only General License X1. A revocation withdraws relief; it does not create a new authority, so no War Powers Resolution clock attaches to this week's strikes and Congress gains no fresh signed record to grip.

Between 11 and 13 July Washington flew about 140 sorties and signed no new Iran instrument⁠5. The Federal Register carries no fresh Iran document, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Treasury's sanctions bureau, logged its last Iran action on 10 July, and The White House presidential-actions register stops at a 9 July aircraft-tariff proclamation⁠6⁠7⁠8. Allies and insurers reading for a durable US position on Hormuz have statements to plan against, not a signed framework.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

CENTCOM (US Central Command, the American military headquarters for the Middle East) launched its third major bombing run of the week, hitting about 140 targets just hours after Iran said it had shut the strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway ships use to move Gulf oil to the rest of the world. The targets included missile launchers and small attack boats belonging to the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite branch of Iran's military). One Iranian naval officer, Lieutenant Hamidreza Dehghani, was reported killed in Jask, a town on Iran's south-east coast near the mouth of the strait. The US military says the strait remains open for ships that follow international law, directly contradicting Iran's closure claim. For now neither side can prove the other wrong, because commercial ships are staying away regardless of who is technically right.

Deep Analysis
Root Causes

Sustaining three strike waves in a single week depends on munitions already forward-positioned at Gulf and Indian Ocean bases such as Al Udeid and Diego Garcia; standoff missile stocks are not manufactured at wartime tempo, so a campaign at this pace draws down a finite pre-positioned inventory rather than an open production line.

Congress supplies a second, separate constraint only if it chooses to invoke one: because the campaign has proceeded without a formal war authorisation, there is no legislative mechanism forcing a pause, so the practical ceiling on strike tempo is munitions supply, not Congress.

First Reported In

Update #153 · Iran declares Hormuz closed; US says open

Gulf News· 13 Jul 2026
Read original →
Different Perspectives
Government of Latvia
Government of Latvia
Latvia abstained on 22 September when the EU renewed its individual sanctions for 36 months at the price of delisting Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman, and promised national sanctions of its own. Riga's abstention marks how far a frontline member state will go to keep listed names listed.
India's Ministry of External Affairs
India's Ministry of External Affairs
After the House passed the Graham bill on 16 September, India's foreign ministry said it would keep buying energy on market terms and protect its trade. Russia supplied 30.3% of India's crude imports in fiscal 2026, so the tariff decision due around 18 October falls directly on New Delhi.
Kaja Kallas, EU foreign policy chief
Kaja Kallas, EU foreign policy chief
Kallas answered the US licence on 10 October by saying Europe would not ease pressure, and EU ministers adopted a 22nd package of nearly 1,600 listings two days later. Brussels is tightening as Washington loosens, though TASS reported the package adds no significant new trade restrictions.
Donald Trump and the US Treasury
Donald Trump and the US Treasury
The Treasury licensed Russian diesel imports until 7 April 2027 on the day of Trump's call with Putin, and Trump then told reporters Ukraine should find a new leader. Washington is trading sanctions relief for fuel supply while pressing Kyiv to halt the refinery strikes behind the shortage.
Kremlin and Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak
Kremlin and Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak
After the 9 October call the Kremlin said Russia was ready to supply oil and petroleum products to American and global markets, and Novak brought forward the end of diesel export curbs. Moscow is selling the shortage back as goodwill, with volumes that Decree No. 686 now hides from outside checks.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine
Zelenskyy called GL 135 an investment in prolonging the war and offered to stop striking Russian refineries if Russia stops destroying Ukraine's energy system. Answering Trump's call for a new leader, he set a total 60-day ceasefire as the condition for elections, which puts the next move on Moscow.