US conducts strikes on Iran after assault on cargo ship
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 will 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 in opposition to business delivery by Iranian forces clearly violated the ceasefire,” it mentioned in an announcement.
“Moreover, Iran’s harmful conduct undermined freedom of navigation as commerce more and more flows by the very important worldwide commerce hall.”
Centcom mentioned the US army would “proceed to offer protected passage coordination and help to business vessels transiting the strait”.
For the second, it’s unclear if the US assaults have been remoted or type half of a bigger, ongoing response.
The IRGC mentioned in an announcement in a while 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 below varied pretexts of a ship violating an unauthorised route within the Strait of Hormuz.”
It added: “If the aggression is repeated our response might 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 in opposition to Iran started on the finish of February.
The shutdown of the vital waterway for oil and gasoline shipments triggered a spike in international oil costs and choked off shipments of different essential commodities reminiscent of fertiliser.
The US and Iran agreed on 17 June to finish hostilities below a 14-point memorandum of understanding, which had additionally referred to as for Iran to make use of its “greatest efforts for the protected passage of business vessels with no cost for 60 days”.
In a publish 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 telephone”.
“However violence might be met with violence,” he added.
However Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament’s nationwide safety fee, mentioned on social media that the US had “attacked Iran in the midst of negotiations as soon as once more”.
He continued: “This reckless violation of the ceasefire will, as all the time, result in retreat and remorse on their half. The blame sport doesn’t work anymore.”
Talking to reporters on the White Home on Friday afternoon, Trump refused to be drawn into questions on how the US would possibly reply to the drone assault, or whether or not he considered the ceasefire as nonetheless intact.
“You may 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 of bit completely different”.
