The US army has performed strikes on Iranian targets after President Donald Trump accused Iran of a “silly violation” of its truce following an assault on a cargo ship within the Strait of Hormuz.
No casualties have been reported when the ship was struck by a one-way assault drone on Thursday, an incident that prompted a deliberate evacuation of hundreds of sailors caught within the area.
In response, US Central Command mentioned on Friday it had struck missile and drone storage services and coastal radar positions. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) blamed the US and Israel.
Simply moments earlier than the strikes have been introduced, Trump mentioned “you may see” when requested if the US would hit again at Iran.
US Central Command – or Centcom – described the strikes as “a strong response” to the drone assault.
“The unwarranted aggression towards industrial transport by Iranian forces clearly violated the ceasefire,” it mentioned in a press release.
“Moreover, Iran’s harmful conduct undermined freedom of navigation as commerce more and more flows by way of the important worldwide commerce hall.”
Centcom mentioned the US army would “proceed to offer protected passage coordination and assist to industrial vessels transiting the strait”.
For the second, it’s unclear if the US assaults have been remoted or kind half of a bigger, ongoing response.
The IRGC mentioned in a press release afterward Friday: “The treaty-breaking US regime as all the time violated its commitments and launched an airstrike on the coast of the Islamic Republic of Iran underneath numerous pretexts of a ship violating an unauthorised route within the Strait of Hormuz.”
It added: “If the aggression is repeated our response will likely be extra intensive than this.”
The IRGC additionally accused the “Zionist regime” – a reference to Israel – of violating a ceasefire in Lebanon.
It got here as Israel and Lebanon signed a framework settlement for a peace plan in Washington on Friday. Restricted combating has lately continued between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, regardless of an present ceasefire.
Tehran successfully closed the strait after US and Israeli assaults towards Iran started on the finish of February.
The shutdown of the important waterway for oil and fuel shipments induced a spike in world oil costs and choked off shipments of different essential commodities akin to fertiliser.
The US and Iran agreed on 17 June to finish hostilities underneath a 14-point memorandum of understanding, which had additionally known as for Iran to make use of its “finest efforts for the protected passage of economic vessels with no cost for 60 days”.
In a submit on X following the US retaliatory strikes, Vice-President JD Vance mentioned that if Iran “has disagreements about how the MOU is being utilized, they’ll decide up the cellphone”.
“However violence will likely be met with violence,” he added.
Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament’s nationwide safety fee, although, mentioned on social media that the US had “attacked Iran in the course of negotiations as soon as once more”.
He continued in his social media submit: “This reckless violation of the ceasefire will, as all the time, result in retreat and remorse on their half. The blame recreation doesn’t work anymore.”
Chatting with reporters on the White Home on Friday afternoon, Trump refused to be drawn into questions on how the US may reply to the drone assault, or whether or not he considered the ceasefire as nonetheless intact.
“You will discover out,” he mentioned. “I do not like the truth that they took a shot yesterday. They should not be doing that.”
Requested why he believed Iran would conduct such an operation, Trump mentioned solely that “they’re a bit bit totally different”.
