SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
Washington: The United States has launched strikes against Iran for the second consecutive night as the ceasefire and tentative peace deal continues to fray following renewed Iranian aggression in the Strait of Hormuz.
“At the direction of the Commander in Chief, US Central Command forces have started conducting additional strikes against Iran to further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” the US military said.
“The United States is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway.”
The exact targets of the strikes late on Wednesday night (Tehran time) were not immediately clear, but they followed strikes the previous night against more than 80 Iranian targets, including air defence systems, missile stocks, surveillance systems and drone launch sites.
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, a state-run TV news agency, reported explosions were heard near Bandar Abbas, a major port city on the Strait of Hormuz, and Sirik, which is also on the strait.
The agency later reported three explosions were heard near Konarak and another near Chabahar – both cities in the country’s south-east corner on the Gulf of Oman.
Iranian state TV also said explosions had been heard on Abu Musa – a militarised, Iran-controlled island at the western entrance of the strait – Reuters reported.
The US and the Gulf states accused Iran of attacking three ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, including a Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker and a Saudi Arabia-flagged crude oil tanker. Iran denied responsibility.
But after the initial US response, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had attacked US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain.
The renewed violence represents the biggest threat to an already-fragile ceasefire since the Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the US and Iran in mid-June.
Speaking at the NATO summit in Turkey, US President Donald Trump said he considered that the ceasefire was effectively “over”. On Wednesday (Ankara time), he foreshadowed additional strikes against Iran in the wake of Tehran’s aggression.
“We knocked out 28 boats last night, little ones,” Trump told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Will we go [again] tonight? Normally, I wouldn’t tell you, but you know what? There’s not a thing they can do about it … so, the answer is ‘probably’. Because they deserve it.”
Trump added: “There may be a big attack, and it’ll knock out a lot of stuff. We don’t knock out nothing – we knock out a lot.”
The new strikes began shortly after Trump left Turkey to return to the US via the United Kingdom. Air Force One was airborne as the strikes started.
The US president departed Turkey on the old Air Force One plane, rather than the new one given to him by Qatar – on which he arrived. He did not answer directly when asked whether this was due to security concerns amid the conflict with Iran.
The 14-point MoU signed in June was supposed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, end the US naval blockade of Iranian ports and commence a 60-day negotiating period for a final deal, as well as continuing the ceasefire that began in April.
Earlier in Ankara, Trump talked down the potential of reaching an agreement with Iran to properly end the war.
“A lot of people say they’re very dishonourable people, and they can’t keep a deal,” he said of the Iranians. “I’m not seeing it with them. My whole life is deals, I don’t see it with them.”
Trump said he was considering reimposing the blockade, and US Central Command posted a video on social media on Wednesday (US time) showing the massive armada and air fleet still patrolling the region’s waterways and skies.
A few hours before the latest round of strikes began, a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, Esmaeil Baqaei, released a statement arguing that the MoU had explicitly emphasised Iran’s responsibility for determining the arrangements for safe passage through the strait.
He accused the US of violating the agreement through its “unilateral actions and also aggressive attacks against Iran”.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will steadfastly pursue the protection of its national interests and the exercise of its sovereignty,” Baqaei said on X.
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X or email.
