US intensifies attacks on Iran as Tehran hits back at Gulf states | Iran
The United States has intensified its attacks on Iran, hitting targets near Tehran and hitting a ship it accused of trying to break the blockade; Iran retaliated by firing missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles at US allies in the region.
The back-and-forth attacks, which have reached their sixth consecutive day, threaten to plunge the region back into all-out war and cast serious doubt on an interim agreement reached last month aimed at lasting peace.
The attacks were accompanied by escalating rhetoric from both sides, as the United States imposed a naval blockade and Iran said it had closed the Strait of Hormuz, which handled about a fifth of global oil and gas exports before the conflict.
The United States launched its latest wave of attacks against Iran early Thursday, hitting areas around Tehran as well as other provinces for the first time in the current conflict, Iranian state media reported. The US also said it opened fire on a tanker heading towards Kharg island, Iran’s largest oil export terminal. US Central Command said it fired a Hellfire missile at the ship after it “ignored multiple warnings.”
Iranian officials said more than 35 people were killed and more than 300 people were injured in recent US attacks.
Tehran accused the United States of carrying out a “barbaric attack” after a cancer hospital in southwestern Iran was evacuated due to nearby attacks.
“This barbaric attack, reminiscent of Israel’s cruelty against health facilities, caused serious pain and anxiety in hospitalized children,” an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement to X. Esmaeil Baghaei added that “211 patients receiving chemotherapy” were evacuated.
Iran responded on Thursday with missiles and drones targeting Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait, which host US bases. Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi also said that there was a drone attack on the city of Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan overnight. The thwarted attack took place after Al Zaidi promised to disarm non-state armed groups during his trip to the United States.
Iraqi authorities also suspended crude oil loading at all Iraqi terminals on Thursday after a drone crashed into an oil tanker in Basra without damaging it, Reuters reported.
Iran warned that it could expand its attacks in the region in response to US President Donald Trump’s statements that it could attack power plants, bridges and nuclear facilities.
“The entire infrastructure in the region will be crushed under the steel blows of the powerful armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Iranian military spokesman Col Ebrahim Zolfaghari said.
“As a foreign and non-regional country, we will not allow America’s intervention in the Strait under any circumstances and in any way. This is Iran’s untouchable red line.”
Zolfaghari added that the only way for the US to reopen the strait is to follow the 14-point Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed last month and comply with “Iranian regulations” regarding transit ships.
Much of the recent conflict has focused on the strait as Iran and the United States battle over the future of the critical waterway.
The memorandum of understanding signed last month said the strait should remain open for the 60-day period of the interim agreement. However, both sides interpret the MoU differently and both insist that ships pass through the strait in their own separate designated lanes.
The almost complete closure of the strait by Iran after the start of the war caused global energy prices and inflation to rise. Trump wants the strait reopened because high energy prices could hurt Republican candidates in the fall midterm elections.
Shipping data showed fewer ships passed through the strait on Wednesday after the reimposition of a US blockade and fighting resumed. Nine ships passed through the strait, compared with 13 on Tuesday, mostly using the route provided by Iran, not the United States.
India, one of the countries that contribute the most sailors to commercial ships worldwide, has told ship owners and recruitment companies not to send Indian sailors to ships heading to the Bosphorus.
“Deployment of Indian sailors should not be allowed on ships undertaking voyages involving passage through the Strait of Hormuz until further orders,” India’s directorate general of maritime administration said in a statement on Wednesday. he said.
The price of oil rose to about $85 per barrel; That’s the highest price in a month, but still below the wartime peak of $120. Analysts said that if transportation disruptions in the Bosphorus continue, oil prices may increase further, reaching up to $100 per barrel.
The US has threatened to open the strait by force, but experts say such an operation would need thousands of ground troops.
Although Iranian officials said they would not bow to military pressure, Trump continued to insist that Iran was ready to make a peace deal.
“They don’t like what we’re doing and they want to get along. We’ll find out if we get along with them or if we finish the job,” Trump said in his speech at the US army’s war school on Wednesday.
Trump’s statements contradicted those of Iranian officials; “We are in an important and existential war with America,” Iran’s chief negotiator and parliamentary speaker, Mohammed Baqer Ghalibaf, said in a statement.
