US, Iran exchange strikes and accuse each other of breaking ceasefire
The United States carried out fresh strikes on Iran on Saturday after a drone attack hit the Panama-flagged tanker MT Kiku in the Strait of Hormuz.
US Central Command (Centcom) said the strikes targeted several military sites across Iran in response to what it called Iran’s ”continued aggression” against commercial shipping.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it retaliated by launching missiles and drones at US military facilities in Kuwait and Bahrain. It claimed to have targeted the Ali al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait and the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain.
Following the exchange of attacks, both Washington and Tehran accused each other of violating the ceasefire agreement.
Centcom said Iran had failed to honour the ceasefire after a one-way attack drone struck the MT Kiku. It said US fighter jets then hit 10 military targets in and around the Strait of Hormuz, including air defence systems, military equipment, communications facilities and drone storage sites.
Iran, however, said the US attacked five of its coastal military posts under the ”pretext” of responding to the IRGC Navy’s actions against the tanker. The IRGC warned that any future attack, regardless of the target, would receive a ”crushing response”.
A US official told Reuters there were no reported American casualties and no significant damage to US military facilities in the region following Iran’s retaliation.
Iran also accused the US of breaching the ceasefire agreed under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed earlier this month. The Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned the US strikes as ”brutal attacks” and said they showed Washington could not be trusted to honour its commitments.
After the latest strikes, US President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that Iran might ”never learn” and warned that the US could be forced to ”militarily complete the job” if tensions continued.
As the situation escalated, Kuwait said its air defence systems had intercepted hostile missiles and drones, while Bahrain urged residents to remain calm and move to the nearest safe place if necessary.
Centcom said commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was continuing despite the latest fighting.
The new strikes came less than a day after the US launched separate attacks on Iran in response to a drone strike on the Singapore-flagged cargo ship MV Ever Lovely on 25 June. The US described those strikes as a response to Iran’s attacks on commercial shipping, while Tehran said the cargo ship had been travelling through an unauthorised route and accused Washington of violating the ceasefire.
The US and Iran agreed on 17 June to end hostilities under a 14-point MoU, which included a commitment by Iran to help ensure the safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz for 60 days.
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s busiest oil shipping routes. Its closure earlier this year following US and Israeli strikes on Iran disrupted global energy supplies, pushed up oil prices and affected shipments of other key goods.
Featured image from: reddit.com