The United States and Iran on Saturday continued to carry out strikes in the Gulf region, with both countries accusing the other of violating an interim peace deal signed less than two weeks ago, Reuters reported.
The US Central Command said it carried out strikes on multiple targets in Iran, claiming that they were in “direct response to continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping”. It alleged that Iranian forces had launched a drone attack on a Panama-flagged tanker that was traversing the Strait of Hormuz with more than two million barrels of crude oil.
The US Central Command said that the country’s aircraft “targeted Iranian military surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defence sites, drone storage facilities, and minelayer capabilities”.
In response, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that the country launched missiles and drones at US infrastructure in Kuwait and Bahrain, the BBC reported. Tehran said it launched ballistic missiles and drones and eight infrastructure sites at the Ali al-Salem base in Kuwait and the Fifth Naval Fleet in Bahrain’s Port Salman.
The IRGC claimed that as per the memorandum of understanding with the US, Iran has arrangements for controlling navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and asserted that any ships that violate the rules will be dealt with more forcefully than before, the BBC reported.
“Any potential enemy aggression, under any pretext, even if the aggressions are against minor targets, as happened last night and tonight, will have a crushing response,” the channel quoted Tehran as saying.
The United States and Iran signed a 14-point interim peace deal on June 17, which included a 60-day ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz for commercial traffic. However, military strikes and threats of recrimination between the two sides have intensified in the past few days.
US President Donald Trump said on Saturday in a social media post that there may come a point when his country “will be forced to militarily complete the job” that it started. “If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist,” he asserted.
Iran, on its part, accused the US of violating the June 17 memorandum of understanding, and warned that its attacks would “lead to a complete halt to the process", the BBC reported.
The Iranian foreign ministry said that the US’ actions showed that it “does not place the slightest value and credibility on its commitments, and breaking promises is part of its nature”.
Since the war in West Asia began on February 28, the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterbody connecting the Gulf to the Arabian Sea, had effectively been blocked for most international commercial vessels, triggering a global energy crisis.
The US and Iran, in the interim deal, agreed to set up a communication channel “to avoid incidents and miscommunication with the aim of safe passage for commercial vessels” through the strait, mediators Pakistan and Qatar had said.
Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.
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