The United States launched new strikes on Iran on Saturday, hitting multiple military targets in what U.S. Central Command said was a direct response to a drone attack on a Panama-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. Centcom said the strikes struck military equipment, communication systems, air defense sites and drone storage facilities.
“Iran was given a chance to honor the ceasefire agreement but elected not to when its forces launched a one-way attack drone that hit MT Kiku,” Centcom said in a statement. The command said commercial vessels are continuing to operate in the strait.
President Donald Trump said on Truth Social on Saturday evening that the strikes were a response to Iran repeatedly violating the ceasefire deal. Trump wrote that it was “very possible” Tehran would “never learn” and that “there may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started.” He added, “If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!”
The latest strikes came less than a day after the U.S. launched retaliatory strikes for a drone attack on the Singapore-flagged cargo ship MV Ever Lovely on June 25. Centcom described those earlier U.S. strikes as “a powerful response” and said the “unwarranted aggression against commercial shipping by Iranian forces clearly violated the ceasefire.” Tehran said that cargo ship was attacked because it was using an unauthorized route through the Gulf waterway, and that the U.S. retaliatory strikes were themselves a ceasefire violation.
Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement released Saturday morning that it had carried out more strikes against targets linked to American forces in response, and blamed the “treaty-breaking US regime” for the situation.
The U.S. and Iran agreed on June 17 to end hostilities under a 14-point memorandum of understanding that called for Iran to use its “best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels with no charge for 60 days.” The Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for oil and gas shipments, was effectively closed by Tehran after the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran at the end of February. The shutdown caused a spike in global oil prices and disrupted shipments of other commodities.
In recent days, Trump and other U.S. officials had insisted negotiations with Iran were progressing, saying Iran had given up any suggestion of tolling vessels transiting the strait. On Tuesday, Iranian and Omani officials held talks in Muscat to discuss the future management of navigation, though Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, told state-affiliated outlets that “everyone should know that the administration of the Strait of Hormuz will never go back to the way it was before the war.”