US launches strikes on Iran after second shipping attack
The USA launched new attacks on Iran following the drone attack on a Panama-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday.
US Central Command (Centcom) said it had struck multiple targets across Iran in direct response to “ongoing aggression” against commercial shipping.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement shared with state media that it had launched missiles and drones against US infrastructure in Kuwait and Bahrain in retaliation.
It was warned that violating the ceasefire was against the agreement signed between the two countries and “will lead to a complete halt of the process.”
“Iran was given the chance to comply with the ceasefire agreement, but chose not to do so when it launched a unidirectional attack drone that hit MT Kiku, a Panama-flagged tanker,” Centcom said in a statement.
In response, he said, it hit military equipment, communications systems, air defense facilities and unmanned aerial vehicle storage facilities.
In the statement of the Revolutionary Guards, it was stated that the USA attacked five coastal outposts in Iran “under the pretext of the Revolutionary Guards Navy opposing the attacking ship”.
It was stated that within the scope of the Memorandum of Understanding signed earlier this month, Iran has regulations to control passage and navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, and from now on, violating ships will be intervened more strongly than in the past.
“Any potential enemy attack under any pretext, even against small targets, as was the case last night and tonight, will be met with an overwhelming response,” the statement said.
Shortly after the latest attacks were announced, the US president said on Truth Social that it was “very possible” that Tehran “will never find out.”
“There may come a point when we can no longer be reasonable and will have to complete militarily the work we have so successfully begun,” he wrote on Saturday evening.
The post continued: “If this happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!”
Kuwait and Bahrain reported that their air defense systems were activated in the hours following the US attacks.
“Kuwaiti air defenses are currently facing hostile missile and drone attacks,” the Kuwaiti Armed Forces said in a statement shared with he said.
Bahrain’s Ministry of Internal Affairs called on citizens to “stay calm and go to the nearest safe place.”
Centcom said that commercial ships continue their operations in the Strait of Hormuz.
The latest attacks come less than a day after the United States launched retaliatory strikes on Iran in response to a June 25 drone attack on the Singapore-flagged cargo ship MV Ever Lovely.
Centcom called America’s strikes a “strong response” to the attack on the cargo ship, adding that “unwarranted aggression by Iranian forces against merchant ships is in clear violation of the ceasefire.”
Tehran said the cargo ship was attacked because it used an unauthorized route to transit the Gulf waterway, and the retaliatory strikes were described by the United States as a ceasefire violation.
In a statement released on Saturday morning, Iran’s foreign ministry said it had launched more attacks on targets linked to American forces in response and blamed the “deal-breaking US regime” for the situation.
The United States and Iran agreed to end hostilities on June 17 as part of a 14-article memorandum of understanding that called on Iran to “make its best efforts to ensure the free and safe passage of commercial ships for 60 days.”
The Strait of Hormuz is a key waterway for oil and gas shipments and was effectively closed by Tehran after the US and Israel attacked Iran at the end of February.
The closure of the critical canal has caused a rise in global oil prices and blocked shipments of other important commodities such as fertilizer.
In recent days, Trump and other U.S. officials have insisted that negotiations with Iran are going well, saying Iran has abandoned any suggestion of charging fees to ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump said Iran had informed the United States that “no tolls, insurance costs, or other fees of any kind will be charged or charged.”
“If this is false information, negotiations will end immediately,” he added.
The United States has condemned reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers passing through the strait, and many consider any pricing system to be against international maritime law.
On Tuesday, Iranian and Omani officials held talks in Oman’s capital Muscat to discuss the “future management of navigation”, but Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidi said both countries were committed to “free safe passage”.
However, Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammed Bagher Galibaf, said in a statement to state-run news outlets, “Everyone should know that the management of the Strait of Hormuz will never return to its pre-war state.”
