- US Central Command says they have hit over 80 targets in Iran.
- The US strikes after the revocation of permission to sell oil.
- Several reported injured by shrapnel in Sirik.
The US military unleashed a new wave of strikes against Iran on Tuesday, revoking a license allowing it to sell oil after three tankers were hit by missiles in the Strait of Hormuz, putting pressure on an already fragile ceasefire.
After a day in which large crowds mourned Iran’s martyred Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the holy city of Qom, the US Central Command said it carried out strikes that hit more than 80 targets in an effort to impose what it called a heavy toll.
The military command said it hit more than 60 small boats of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to impair Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping.
“The unwarranted aggression by Iranian forces is a clear and dangerous violation of the ceasefire and undermines freedom of navigation,” CENTCOM said in a statement.
Iran’s Supreme Joint Military Command, Khatam al-Anbiya’s Central Headquarters, condemned the US strikes as an “open act of aggression”, threatened a “crushing response” and warned that Tehran would not allow US interference in the management of the Strait.
Iranian media reported early Wednesday local time explosions at Iran’s main oil hub on Kharg Island, on Qeshm Island and in the southern port cities of Sirik and Bandar Abbas.
No civilian deaths were reported, but several people were injured by shrapnel from an “enemy projectile” that hit a commercial pier in Sirik, according to an Iranian state TV reporter. The reports said strikes also hit fishing piers in Sirik and in Bandar Abbas, where several fishing boats were set on fire.
Iran’s Press TV said several explosions were heard on Kharg Island in southern Iran. The report did not provide details on the cause of the explosions, possible injuries or casualties.
The Centcom statement did not mention Kharg Island, from which Iran exports 90% of its crude oil. The island was last attacked by the United States in April.
An American official said Reuters that attack targeted Iranian air defense systems, coastal surveillance systems, surface-to-air missiles, cruise missiles and drone launch sites.
The incidents were just the latest threat to the cease-fire deal the US and Iran struck last month, pausing the conflict that began in February with US and Israeli strikes across the Islamic Republic.
In a potentially major blow to that deal, Washington decided on Tuesday to withdraw a key concession that had allowed Iran to sell oil on international markets.
A US official said earlier that negotiators continued to work in good faith towards a final deal with Iran. But control of the strait has given Tehran enormous leverage, effectively allowing it to force a stalemate with the world’s most powerful military.
Under the US-Iran Interim Agreement, the US Treasury issued a general license on 22 June to allow the sale of crude oil and petrochemical and petroleum products of Iranian origin through 21 August. By revoking that license on Tuesday, it gave Iran until July 17 to settle all transactions.
Any necessary action
Iran’s foreign ministry condemned the move as a breach of the framework agreement to end the war and said Washington would bear responsibility for the consequences.
The ministry said early Wednesday that Iran would take any measures deemed necessary to protect its interests and national security.
Qatar accused Iran of attacking the ships, including the huge Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker Al Rekayyat, which reported being hit overnight by a drone, causing a fire in its engine room. The crew was safe and evacuated.
A Saudi-flagged crude oil tanker, believed to be the supertanker Wedyan, was also damaged off Oman, maritime security sources said. The reason was not immediately clear.
Qatar’s foreign ministry said it had summoned Iran’s deputy ambassador and handed him a protest note after the attack on the tanker.
Iran’s foreign ministry said Qatar’s accusations were confusing and that Tehran was diligently fulfilling its obligations, but argued that commercial vessels faced risks for using routes not coordinated with Iran.
Another US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said initial indications were that Iran had fired at three commercial vessels.
Iran’s rulers aim to install a permanent system to collect fees in what would amount to a huge shift in the balance of power in a region where Washington has long served as a guarantor of security.
At home, the leadership has used the mourning for Khamenei, which began last week, to show its control after Khamenei was martyred along with his daughter, grandson, son-in-law and daughter-in-law on the first day of the war.
The coffins of the martyred leader and family were driven through the streets of the seminary city of Qom on Tuesday. Iranian state media later showed what it said was footage of a plane carrying Khamenei’s coffin at the airport in the holy city of Najaf in neighboring Iraq.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who was in Iraq to attend the funeral ceremonies, traveled to Iran after the US attack on southern Iran, state television reported.
The ceasefire was intended to provide a 60-day window for talks on a permanent deal, but indirect talks in Qatar ended last week with no sign of progress.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to resume the bombing, most recently on Monday when he told reporters in the Oval Office: “Either we make a deal or we finish the job…We can knock down their bridges in an hour, we can knock out their energy supply.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said negotiations on the final deal under the terms of the interim ceasefire memorandum “will not begin if the threats continue”.
