The U.S. military launched fresh strikes on Iran after it struck a container ship on Sunday, while Tehran said it had again closed the Strait of Hormuz and escalated attacks on U.S. facilities in states across the Gulf.
A series of attacks between the U.S. and Iran over the past several days led President Donald Trump to declare the end of a ceasefire meant to halt the fighting that the U.S. and Israel began on February 28, though Trump has left the door open to continued negotiations.
Iran said it closed the strait after firing a warning shot that struck a vessel traveling on an unapproved route. It warned that any retaliation over the incident would be met with a “severe response.”
U.S. Central Command, however, said commercial vessels continue to transit through the waterway that carried one-fifth of the world’s oil and LNG shipments before the war.
IRAN ESCALATES PACE, EXPANDS TARGET OF ATTACKS
Central Command said U.S. forces hit 140 Iranian military targets on Saturday, out of more than 300 during three nights of strikes “to degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial vessels freely transiting the strait.”
Iranian state media reported explosions in a number of port cities.
In response, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday they had destroyed a command and control center and drone hangars at a base in U.S. ally Jordan, targeted a U.S. military radar site in Kuwait, attacked U.S. aircraft carrier support and refueling platforms in Oman and destroyed a fighter jet maintenance centre and command and control facility in Qatar.
The Guards also said they had struck and disabled a second vessel in the Strait of Hormuz.
The United Arab Emirates said its air defense systems engaged missiles and drones from Iran, while warning sirens sounded in Bahrain and explosions were heard in Doha.
Tehran’s strikes marked a sharp escalation in pace and targets. In recent weeks, Iran had hit sites in Kuwait and Bahrain while avoiding Qatar since early April and the UAE since early May.
The war has destabilized the Gulf, while Iran’s effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has caused energy prices to surge, fuelling global inflation and raising fears of an economic slowdown.
Higher prices, especially for gasoline, are a politically sensitive issue for Trump ahead of November congressional elections.
Iran said several ships attempted to move through the waterway on an “unauthorized route” and disregarded warnings to correct their course. The strait will remain closed until “the end of U.S. interference in this region,” the Revolutionary Guards said.
‘KEEP YOUR WORD OR PAY THE PRICE,’ IRAN SAYS
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has accused the United States of violating the ceasefire agreement. “There can only be mutual compliance,” he wrote on X on Friday.
On Sunday, Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf posted on X: “The era of one-sided deals is OVER. We told you: keep your word or pay the price. Reality is knocking.”
The U.S. revoked the license authorizing the sale of Iranian crude on Tuesday after three Qatari and Saudi commercial tankers came under fire earlier in the week, prompting the U.S. to hit Iranian sites. Iran then struck U.S. military sites in Gulf states.
While Iran has not claimed responsibility for the ship attacks, analysts say Tehran uses such actions to gain leverage in negotiations.
Araqchi and Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi met in Oman to exchange “views on appropriate mechanisms for the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz,” according to a statement from the Iranian foreign minister. Oman’s state news agency said Omani and Iranian negotiators would continue talks “at the technical and political levels.”
A written statement from Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, on Saturday threatened vengeance for the death of his predecessor and father, who was killed in the war’s initial attacks. It said the vengeance would take place whatever happened to Iran.
“We pledge to avenge the blood of the martyred leader and all the martyrs,” the message said.
The statement was released to mark funeral ceremonies for the former leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Thursday. His son did not attend the ceremonies and has not been seen in public since the war began.
(Reuters)
