More than a week after the US and Iran signed a 14-point Memorandum of Understanding () to end the war, fresh tensions have emerged between Washington and Tehran.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Saturday (local time) said it targeted US military positions in the region in retaliation for a fresh US strike against the Islamic Republic.
Earlier on Friday, the US army struck Iran in response to a drone attack that targeted a cargo ship near the on Thursday (local time). The incident represents the first major challenge to an interim agreement reached last week, under which the two nations agreed to work toward ending their months of conflict and restoring access to the strategically important waterway, AP reported.
US-Iran trade strikes putting new strain on ceasefire: Top updates
1. on Friday said the American strikes against Iranian missile and drone storage sites and coastal radar positions were in response to “unwarranted aggression against commercial shipping by Iranian forces” that “clearly violated the ceasefire.” It described the operation as “a powerful response to yesterday’s attack on a commercial ship that was transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”
2. Donald Trump said the drone attack on the cargo ship violated the ceasefire. The strikes came shortly after told reporters, “You’ll find out,” when asked whether the US would respond. He added, “I don’t like the fact that they took a shot yesterday, actually four of them.” Trump, who was at the White House when he made these remarks, said of Iran, “They’re a little bit different,” when questioned why there would be strikes when he insisted that talks with Tehran were going well.
3. Trump’s remarks were reiterated by Vice President , who, in a social media post, said that the Islamic Republic should “pick up the phone” if there are disagreements about the ceasefire agreement. He, however, added, “But violence will be met with violence.”
4. Responding to Trump on social media, Ebrahim Azizi, who heads the Iranian parliament’s national security commission, said the Strait of Hormuz is governed by Iran and that Washington should respect the rules and must “not mistake control for escalation.” Azizi went on to say that this wasn’t a ceasefire violation but rather ceasefire management.
5. Another Iranian official, Ibrahim al-Fiqar, official military spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, the operational command center that coordinates the and the regular Iranian army, said that Tehran’s response to the US attacks will be “unprecedented” this time. In a series of posts on X, he said, “We affirm that this aggression will not go unanswered, and we will choose the appropriate time and place. We warn that any further act of folly will be met with a harsh response that will shatter the illusions of the aggressors in the region.”
Al-Fiqar added, “No retreat… Our response will shake the earth to its core and will erase your military presence as if it never existed. When the three numbers match tonight, the flow will cease, and the silence will become a storm. There will be nothing to say, only what will be seen. No summons and no options. This is an unprecedented night, in which gunpowder will write the final line in your illusions. The response to the US attack will be swift and decisive.”
6. The aggression from both Washington and Tehran comes at a fragile time as the two sides continue to negotiate a permanent end to the war. The Islamic Republic has increasingly challenged the region and the US over its control of the , despite signing an interim deal.
The MoU signed by and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on 17 June stated that the Islamic Republic would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil was transported. However, Hormuz continues to be a sticking point since Iran wants to levy a toll on ships passing through and maintain its chokehold that can be leveraged in the future, whereas the US wants Tehran not to charge any toll on the commercial vessels passing through.
7. The attack on the cargo ship came as a United Nations maritime agency, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), had launched an evacuation operation this week to move stranded vessels out of the strait via an alternative route, staying close to Oman’s coastline instead of sailing through the central channel. Following the attack, IMO suspended the evacuations and said on Friday that they would not resume until assurances are provided that other ships will not be targeted.
It remains to be seen if the interim agreement will continue to hold or if the two sides will trade attacks again.
(with agency inputs)
