Tensions flared sharply over the weekend after Iran announced a temporary closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the United States confirmed the launch of a third wave of military strikes against Iranian targets.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy announced on Sunday that it has temporarily closed the Strait of Hormuz until further notice, following what it described as a warning-shot incident against a vessel inside the strategic waterway.

In a statement issued in the early hours of Sunday, the IRGC said the incident was caused by "illegal foreign interference," and warned that no ships would be permitted to transit while the United States continues its military operations in the region.

The US Central Command said in a post on social media platform X that US forces in the early hours of Sunday local time launched the third round of strikes this week against Iran in retaliation for what it said was an assault on a civilian vessel in the Strait of Hormuz.

The latest developments follow an exchange of attacks between the United States and Iran that began last Friday, triggered by alleged Iranian strikes on commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz a day earlier.

Following US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February, Tehran tightened its control over the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which about one-fifth of the world's seaborne oil trade passes.