Cyprus-flagged container ship damaged, one crew member missing
The strikes — the latest round of U.S. attacks on Iran this week — came hours after the IRGC struck a Cyprus-flagged containership, damaging its engine room and igniting a fire, according to U.S. Central Command. One civilian crew member remained missing, the command said.
The White House had demanded that Iran issue a statement declaring the Strait of Hormuz open and commit to stopping attacks on commercial vessels, according to a senior U.S. official. Instead, the Revolutionary Guard struck another ship seeking to transit the waterway near the coast of Oman and declared the strait closed.
The IRGC said it fired warning shots because the ship was using an unauthorized route. The U.S. military has disputed Iran’s claim that it controls traffic in the vital waterway, saying it had helped facilitate the transit of more than 800 commercial vessels and 380 million barrels of crude oil since early May.
On Friday, senior administration officials told reporters that a nuclear deal with Iran is increasingly unlikely and warned that there would be serious consequences if Iran did not guarantee safe passage of ships, the Wall Street Journal reported. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on social media Saturday: “Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay.”
The U.S. strikes targeted radars, launchers, missile and drone storage depots and other military sites, according to a senior U.S. official. Explosions were reported along the coast of Iran in Bandar Abbas and Chabahar, near the Strait of Hormuz.
The military altercations over control of the strait are threatening to unravel the interim deal signed in June, which called for a 60-day pause in hostilities and the reopening of the waterway while the two countries negotiated more difficult issues, including Iran’s nuclear program. According to the Wall Street Journal, hard-liners in Tehran have argued that the interim agreement gave Iran the right to control the strait, warning ships to use an approved route and seeking to impose a toll system. The Journal reported that Iran believes it must control passage through the strait as key leverage to bind Washington to its commitments under the interim deal, including sanctions relief and a drawdown of U.S. military forces. For the U.S., loosening Iran’s grip on the strait is critical to force Tehran into a more flexible position on nuclear talks, the Journal reported.