New Delhi, July 12 -- DUBAI - Iran's military struck a Cyprus-flagged container ship in the Strait of Hormuz early Saturday, hours after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps formally declared the waterway closed, triggering a third round of American airstrikes on five Iranian port cities and confronting the world's most critical oil chokepoint with a question neither Washington nor Tehran has yet answered.

United States Central Command confirmed strikes on Bandar Abbas, Sirik, Chabahar, Bandar-e Deyr, and Asaluyeh within hours of Iran's attack on the Cyprus-flagged vessel, which was in international waters when it was struck. The crew status and cargo aboard the ship remained unknown at time of filing; no state had claimed direct respon...