The fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran unravelled further on Monday as both sides launched retaliatory strikes and accused each other of violating the interim peace agreement.
The renewed violence was sparked by Iran attacking a ship passing through the Strait of Hormuz on the Omani side as part of a UN-backed evacuation operation, according to Channel 4 News. Iran insists that under the terms of the increasingly shaky ceasefire deal with the US, it still controls the waterway.
“US and Iran trade strikes after tanker attack, accusing each other of ceasefire violations.”
US Central Command (Centcom) said it hit multiple targets across Iran in direct response to "continued aggression" against commercial shipping. The Iran attack targeted the MT Kiku, a Panama-flagged tanker, with a one-way attack drone. US fighter jets then struck 10 Iranian military targets at multiple locations in and near the Strait of Hormuz, including military equipment, communication systems, air defence sites and drone storage facilities.
In retaliation, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it launched ballistic missiles and drones at "eight key pieces of infrastructure" at the Ali al-Salem base in Kuwait and the Fifth Naval Fleet in Port Salman, Bahrain, "destroying them". A US official told Reuters there were no reported US casualties or major impacts or damage to US facilities in the Middle East.
The IRGC accused the US of violating the ceasefire agreed to in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed earlier this month, warning that it "will lead to a complete halt to the process". The Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned what it described as the "brutal attacks" as a violation of the ceasefire, adding it showed the US "does not place the slightest value and credibility on its commitments, and breaking promises is part of its nature."
Centcom countered: "Iran was given a chance to honour the ceasefire agreement but elected not to when its forces launched a one-way attack drone that hit MT Kiku."
Shortly after the latest US strikes were announced, Donald Trump said on Truth Social it was "very possible" that Tehran would "never learn". He wrote: "There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started."
The IRGC warned: "Any potential enemy aggression, under any pretext, even if the aggressions are against minor targets, as happened last night and tonight, will have a crushing response." It also said that under the MoU, Iran has arrangements for controlling passage and navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, and from now on, violating ships will be dealt with more forcefully than in the past.