Online Reporter
The US military has conducted strikes on Iranian targets after President Donald Trump accused Iran of a “foolish violation” of its truce following an attack on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
The US Central Command said it had struck missile and drone storage facilities and coastal radar positions on Friday.
It said the strikes were in response to a drone attack on a cargo ship on Thursday, an incident that halted a planned evacuation of thousands of sailors stuck in the region.
Tehran said the cargo ship was attacked because it was using an unauthorised route to transit through the vital Gulf waterway.
The US Central Command — or Centcom — described the strikes as “a powerful response” to the drone attack a day earlier.
“The unwarranted aggression against commercial shipping by Iranian forces clearly violated the ceasefire,” it said in a statement.
“Furthermore, Iran’s dangerous behaviour undermined freedom of navigation as commerce increasingly flows through the vital international trade corridor.”
Centcom said the US military would “continue to provide safe passage coordination and support to commercial vessels transiting the strait”.
But Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) blamed the “treaty-breaking US regime”.
It said in a statement the US had launched an airstrike on Iran’s coast “under various pretexts of a ship violating an unauthorised route in the Strait of Hormuz”.
The IRGC said its navy had retaliated by striking US military positions in the region, without providing further details.
“If the aggression is repeated our response will be more extensive than this,” the IRGC added.
Tehran effectively closed the strait after US and Israeli attacks against Iran began at the end of February.
The shutdown of the critical waterway for oil and gas shipments caused a spike in global oil prices and choked off shipments of other crucial commodities such as fertiliser.
The US and Iran agreed on June 17 to end hostilities under a 14-point memorandum of understanding, which had also called for Iran to use its “best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels with no charge for 60 days”. — BBC
