Explosions Rock Iran's Qeshm Island as Gulf Tensions Boil Over

Four explosions rattled Iran's Qeshm Island on Sunday, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency, which cited its own correspondent on the ground. Iranian state media said that some points on the island have been hit, without naming what was struck or who was behind it. Local authorities have stayed silent so far, leaving the blast's cause and any damage tally up in the air. Qeshm sits in the Persian Gulf near the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway already boiling over this weekend.

The explosions land one day after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed its military safely took down seven United States reconnaissance drones over the past two weeks. Tehran has been talking tough on multiple fronts at once. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi took to X on Sunday to say that with US citizens having made their choice, the White House now has to make its own. He repeated a two-day proposal: meet the requirements, including an end to war on all fronts, and see results, or choose war and face what he called alert, battle-hardened fighters raining down hell.

The water nearby is no calmer. Iran's navy said Sunday that a non-compliant oil tanker caught fire after striking a naval mine east of the Strait of Hormuz. According to the navy, the vessel was trying to transit the passage without Iran's authorization and had its identification systems switched off. Tehran warned the strait will stay closed to ships that violate its rules until all threats are removed.

Washington is repositioning too. US Central Command has said it is standing up Task Force Iron Gate, aimed at stopping Tehran from using ground routes to move weapons and materials. The two sides are trading warnings while hardware keeps moving into place.

Elsewhere in the region, Yemen's internationally recognized armed forces said Sunday that 267 Houthi fighters and commanders were killed, wounded or fled in recent strikes. A spokesman, Brigadier General Majed Abdullah Al-Nuzaili, posted on X that the army flew 944 airstrikes against military camps, outposts, sniper positions and barricades, including 19 on the Marib, Taiz and Tur al-Bahah fronts, with drones flying dozens more.

In Lebanon, Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji declared Sunday that his country will no longer accept any armed presence beyond the Lebanese army. Speaking to the Lebanese community in Montreal, he said no one else will negotiate or strike agreements on Beirut's behalf, insisting Lebanese diplomacy had become 100% Lebanese again. He also raised resuming a direct air route, a sign Beirut is busy redrawing its own lines while the wider region burns.