U.S. forces struck two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) rocket-launcher positions on Iran’s Larak Island near the Strait of Hormuz on the 30th, after detecting preparations to fire rockets equipped with naval mines. Iran retaliated hours later with missiles and drones aimed at a U.S. military base in Jordan. The strike, the first direct U.S. attack on Iranian territory in roughly a month since late July, has renewed concern over shipping through the strategic waterway. During the previous U.S.-Iran armed conflict, average daily vessel traffic fell about 95%, from 129 ships in February to six in March. The Korea Institute of Construction Industry Research (KICIR) says 79 South Korean construction firms are executing 275 projects worth about $140.9 billion (₩193.1 trillion) in conflict zones and neighboring countries, including Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Major exposures include Samsung C&T’s ₩1.91 trillion ($1.4 billion) carbon compression and transfer project at Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, Samsung E&A’s ₩8.6973 trillion ($6.3 billion) Fadhili gas expansion project for Saudi Aramco, and Hyundai Engineering & Construction projects in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Mirae Asset Securities said Samsung E&A’s second-quarter chemical plant revenue dropped 18% year over year because of the Strait of Hormuz blockade. KICIR warns that prolonged disruption could raise logistics and financing costs, delay schedules, increase construction expenses and trigger contract disputes. Brent crude briefly exceeded $90 a barrel, while the United States deployed the USS George Washington carrier strike group to the Arabian Sea, prepared to dispatch the USS Roosevelt and continued expanding weekly secondary sanctions on Iran’s covert financial and trade networks. Iran’s president said war and sanctions had cut foreign trade by about 35% and pushed annual inflation to around 66%. Experts describe the situation as a high-cost stalemate, making the normalization of Hormuz transit a key variable for Middle East construction timelines, logistics costs and the global energy market.