The US just bombed 90 military targets inside Iran, and crypto markets did exactly what you’d expect when bombs start falling near the world’s most important oil chokepoint: they went down.
US Central Command launched the strikes after President Trump declared the interim ceasefire with Tehran “over” on July 8, 2026. The targets reportedly included air defense systems, naval capabilities, and logistics infrastructure along the Iranian coastline. Iran responded by hitting US-linked military bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP all dropped more than 2% in the immediate aftermath.
What happened and why it matters
Trump ended the interim deal with Iran after Tehran’s forces attacked commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that handles roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supply. This latest round of approximately 90 targets follows a prior wave that hit around 80 targets.
The broader conflict traces back to Trump’s withdrawal from the JCPOA, the Obama-era nuclear deal, in 2018. Since then, the relationship between Washington and Tehran has been a cycle of sanctions, provocations, ceasefires that don’t hold, and negotiations that don’t conclude.
