THE United States has renewed its attacks against Iran in response to an incident a day earlier when a cargo vessel was struck by an Iranian drone.
On Friday, the US Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, said it had issued a “powerful response to yesterday’s attack”.
“US aircraft struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites,” CENTCOM said in a statement.
“Iran’s dangerous behavior undermined freedom of navigation as commerce increasingly flows through the vital international trade corridor.”
US strikes were reported near the southern Iranian port of Sirik after the announcement.
Afterwards, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it responded with attacks against US military installations in the region.
In a statement to the government news service IRNA, the IRGC warned, “In the event of repeated aggression, our response will be more extensive than this.”
The exchange of fire has left questions swirling over whether a June 17 memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the US and Iran will hold.
Each side has accused the other of violating the deal, which included a ceasefire.
The document called for a “permanent” end to “military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon”, effectively pausing the war the US and Israel had launched against Iran on February 28.
The memorandum was not final but was rather framed as a precursor to further negotiations, including over traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for global trade.
Since the start of the war, Iran has shut down traffic through the strait, forcing prices for fuel, fertiliser and other goods to shoot upwards.
But Thursday’s attack on the Singapore-registered commercial vessel, the Ever Lovely, has reignited tensions between the US and Iran.
US President Donald Trump had warned earlier on Friday that he considered the Ever Lovely incident a “foolish violation” of the memorandum.
The deal was meant to trigger a 60-day period wherein Iran was charged with making its “best efforts” to allow commercial vessels to pass through the strait at no charge.
The fragile ceasefire, however, has struggled to hold, as Israel has continued to bombard Lebanon, in violation of the memorandum’s terms.
Iran, in response, said last week that it would close the Strait of Hormuz once more as a result of the attacks in Lebanon.
On Thursday, the Ever Lovely was passing through the waterway, near the coast of Oman, when it was struck by a projectile. No crew members were injured, and the container ship was able to continue its travels.
But Trump blamed Iran, saying the country “shot at least four One Way Attack Drones at Ships transversing the Strait of Hormuz”. He claimed to have knocked down three of the drones, but the fourth hit its target.
“One of the Drones solidly hit the upper deck of a large and very expensive Cargo Carrying Ship,” Trump wrote of the Ever Lovely in Friday’s social media post.
Later, at a news conference, reporters asked Trump if the ceasefire inked in the June 17 memorandum was still in place.