US strikes Iran in response to attack on cargo ship in Strait of Hormuz

[WASHINGTON/DUBAI] The US military attacked Iran on Friday (Jun 26) in response to an Iranian drone strike on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, with each country accusing the other of violating terms of a ceasefire agreed on last week.

US Central Command said aircraft struck missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites, and a US official reported the operation had concluded. Iran said a projectile struck the area around a pier in Sirik in southern Iran, and that Iranian naval forces responded by striking US military targets in the region.

Elsewhere there were signs of progress, however, as Israel and Lebanon signed an agreement to end the fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hizbollah. Both sides framed the deal as an initial step that calls for Hizbollah to disarm and Israel to withdraw troops from Lebanon, but it was not clear how it would be enforced. Hizbollah said it would not cooperate.

Teheran has said it would control the Strait of Hormuz and warned Gulf states not to side with Washington after Thursday’s attack on a cargo ship travelling near Oman’s coast. US President Donald Trump blamed the attack on Iran and said it violated last week’s agreement.

“The unwarranted aggression against commercial shipping by Iranian forces clearly violated the ceasefire,” US Central Command said in its statement announcing strikes, which it called “a powerful response to yesterday’s attack on a commercial ship that was transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”

The US military said it would continue to provide “safe passage coordination and support” to commercial vessels transiting the strait.

‘Violence will be met with violence’

US Vice-President JD Vance, once seen as a skeptic on US intervention in Iran but now a Trump administration point person on the conflict, said the Americans have honored the ceasefire deal, also known as a memorandum of understanding.

“Iran signed a ceasefire agreement. We have honored it. If they have disagreements about how the MOU is being applied, they can pick up the phone. But violence will be met with violence,” Vance said on X.

Iranian state media, citing an unnamed military source, reported the strike at the port of Sirik after an explosion was heard there. The source said several warning shots had been fired from Sirik towards vessels that violated Strait of Hormuz regulations about five hours earlier, adding two warning missiles had also been launched from the nearby Karpan area towards the strategic waterway.

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The Revolutionary Guards said that in response its navy “struck the locations where the terrorist US military is stationed in the region” and warned that any further US attacks would be met with a broader response, according to the statement carried on state media.

The ceasefire agreement gives Iran control over ship traffic in the strait, the Guards said.

“However, the US, by provoking various fronts, sought to violate this commitment, and the necessary response was given and will continue to be given. If the aggression is repeated, our response will be broader than this,” the Revolutionary Guards said.

The US did not immediately respond to Iran’s report of striking American targets, a tactic that has sought to undermine US allies in the region during the conflict.

Ebrahim Azizi, the head of the Iranian parliament’s national security committee, said in response to the latest strikes that Trump has failed to show commitment to the principles of negotiation or ceasefire.

“This reckless violation of the ceasefire will, as always, lead to retreat and regret on their part,” Azizi said in a post on X.

Oil prices fall

Before the renewed outbreak of violence, oil prices dropped by about 3 per cent on Friday, on course for steep weekly losses, in response to oil tankers exiting the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies typically passes.

Saudi Aramco resumed crude loadings at its Ras Tanura terminal in the Gulf, the world’s biggest oil port, after a nearly four-month halt, shipping data showed.

Fertilizer shipments through the strait have also picked up, helping to assuage concerns about a spike in global food prices.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio – wrapping up a tour of the Gulf to reassure regional allies about the interim pact – issued a joint statement with the Gulf Cooperation Council calling for “free, unconditional, and unrestricted navigation” in the strait without tolls or “attempts to assert control.”

Iran’s foreign ministry said the strait should be governed by Iran and Oman, while Ali Akbar Velayati, top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, warned Washington’s Gulf allies their survival depended on Teheran’s tolerance. REUTERS