The US has launched fresh airstrikes against Iran, with Washington calling the move payback for attacks on commercial ships. US Central Command said Tuesday it launched "powerful" strikes aimed at imposing "heavy costs" on Iran after three tankers were damaged in or near the Strait of Hormuz within a 24-hour span, the BBC reports. According to Iranian state media, explosions were heard on Qeshm Island and in the port cities of Bandar Abbas and Sirik.
- US forces "have begun launching a series of powerful strikes against Iran to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway," Central Command said on X. The strikes, it said, "are in response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire."
Iran has not taken responsibility for the ship attacks, which a US official had labeled "wholly unacceptable" while promising consequences. The Trump administration also pulled back a sanctions waiver that had eased some restrictions on Iranian oil. Qatar and Saudi Arabia separately condemned the vessel attacks, saying tankers linked to their countries were targeted in the waterway.
Iran called the return of oil sanctions a "clear violation" of the Memorandum of Understanding between Iran and the US and vowed to take "any measures" necessary to defend itself, CNN reports. "This comes as the United States, either directly or through the actions of the Israeli regime against Lebanon, has repeatedly committed both minor and major violations of various provisions of the memorandum over the past 20 days," Iran's foreign ministry said in a statement.
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