US and Iran exchange fire, but Trump says ceasefire still in effect

[WASHINGTON] The US and Iran exchanged fire on Thursday (May 7) in the most serious test yet of their month-long ceasefire, but Iran said the situation returned to normal while the Americans said they did not want to escalate.

Iran’s military said the US targeted two ships entering the Strait of Hormuz and carried out strikes on Iranian territory. The US military said it fired in response to Iranian attacks.

Trump told an ABC reporter that the ceasefire was still in effect and sought to downplay the exchange. “It’s just a love tap,” Trump told the reporter, according to her social media post. Iranian state media said after the strikes that the situation was back to normal.

The renewed hostilities broke out as Washington was awaiting Iran’s response to a US proposal that would stop the fighting but leave the most contentious issues, such as Iran’s nuclear programme, unresolved for now. The two sides have occasionally exchanged gunfire since the ceasefire took effect on Apr 7.

Iran’s top joint military command accused the US of violating the ceasefire by targeting an Iranian oil tanker and another ship, and of carrying out air attacks on civilian areas on Qeshm Island in the strait and nearby coastal areas of Bandar Khamir Sirik on the mainland.

The military said it responded by attacking US military vessels east of the Strait of Hormuz and south of the port of Chabahar.

A spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said the strikes inflicted “significant damage,” but US Central Command said none of its assets were hit.

Centcom said Iran had used missiles, drones and small boats in the attack, which targeted three Navy destroyers. The US said it targeted missile and drone sites and other locations in response.

“Centcom does not seek escalation but remains positioned and ready to protect American forces,” the statement added.

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Iran also said it would respond if attacked.

“(The) US and its allies must know that Iran will respond forcefully and without the slightest hesitation to any act of aggression or attack,” the military spokesperson said, according to state television.

Iran’s Press TV later reported that, following several hours of fire, “the situation on Iranian islands and coastal cities by the Strait of Hormuz is back to normal now.”

The two sides have occasionally exchanged gunfire since the ceasefire took effect on Apr 7. On Monday, the US military said it destroyed six Iranian small boats and intercepted Iranian cruise missiles and drones as Teheran sought to thwart a US naval effort to open shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump urges Iran to accept negotiated end to war

Trump, in a social media post that repeated parts of the Central Command statement, said three US destroyers transited out of the Strait of Hormuz and came under fire, but suffered no damage, while stating that the Iranian attackers were “completely destroyed” along with several small boats.

“These boats went to the bottom of the Sea, quickly and efficiently,” he said. “Missiles were shot at our Destroyers, and were easily knocked down. Likewise, drones came, and were incinerated while in the air.”

Trump also urged Iran to accept a negotiated end to the war, saying: “We’ll knock them out a lot harder, and a lot more violently, in the future, if they don’t get their Deal signed, FAST!”

Before the latest exchanges, the US had floated a proposal to formally end the conflict. But it does not address key US demands that Iran suspend its nuclear work and ​reopen the strait, which before the war handled one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas supply. Teheran said it had not yet reached a conclusion on the emerging plan.

Israel, which has also been fighting Iran-backed Hizbollah in Lebanon, said on Thursday it had killed a Hizbollah commander in an airstrike on Beirut a day earlier, the first Israeli attack on the Lebanese capital since a ceasefire there was agreed last month.

A halt to Israeli strikes in Lebanon is a key Iranian demand in negotiations with Washington.

Impact on oil prices and US politics

The war has tested Trump’s relationship with his US base of supporters, after he had campaigned against involving the US in foreign wars and promised to bring down fuel prices. US crude futures rose as much as 3 per cent in early trading in Asia on Friday after the renewed hostilities broke out.

US gasoline prices have climbed more than 40 per cent since late February, rising by about US$1.20 a gallon to more than US$4, according to data from the American Automobile Association, as disruptions to oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz pushed crude oil prices higher.

Markets have swung sharply during the course of the war as hopes for a peace deal repeatedly rose and faded. REUTERS