The United States resumed attacks on Iran after an Iranian drone crashed into a cargo ship the day before.
U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, said Friday it had issued a “strong response to yesterday’s attack.”
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“U.S. military aircraft attacked Iranian missile and drone storage sites and coastal radar facilities,” Centcom said in a statement.
“Iran’s dangerous actions have undermined freedom of navigation as commerce increasingly flows through critical international trade corridors.”
After this announcement, there were reports of a US attack near the port of Sirik in southern Iran.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) subsequently announced that it had responded with attacks on US military facilities in the region.
In a statement to government news agency IRNA, the Revolutionary Guards warned that “in the event of a repeat invasion, our response will be broader than this.”
A truce that is about to unravel
The shootout has sparked questions over the validity of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the United States and Iran on June 17.
Both sides accuse the other of violating agreements that include a ceasefire.
The document called for a “permanent” halt to “military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon,” effectively suspending the war that the United States and Israel launched against Iran on February 28.
The memorandum was not final, but rather was framed as a prelude to further negotiations, including on transportation issues in the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global trade.
Since the start of the war, Iran has cut off traffic in the strait, forcing the price of fuel, fertilizer and other goods to soar.
However, Thursday’s attack on the Singapore-flagged merchant ship Ever Love reignited tensions between the United States and Iran.
US President Donald Trump warned earlier Friday that he considered the Ever Love incident to be a “stupid violation” of the memorandum.
The agreement was intended to trigger a 60-day period during which Iran would be obligated to use its “best efforts” to allow commercial ships to transit the strait free of charge.
But the fragile ceasefire is struggling to hold as Israel continues to bombard Lebanon in violation of the terms of the memorandum of understanding.
In response, Iran announced last week that it would close the Strait of Hormuz again in response to the attack in Lebanon.
Response to cargo ship attack
On Thursday, the Everlovely was struck by a projectile as it passed through a waterway near the coast of Oman. There were no injuries to the crew, and the container ship continued sailing.
But President Trump blamed Iran, saying the country had “launched at least four unidirectional attack drones at ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz.” He shot down three of the drones, but claimed the fourth hit its target.
“One of the drones slammed into the upper deck of a large, very expensive cargo ship,” President Trump wrote of Everlovely in a social media post Friday.
At a subsequent press conference, reporters asked President Trump whether the cease-fire enshrined in the June 17 memorandum still stands.
“I don’t like the fact that they shot yesterday,” he said, before briefly describing the damage to the Everlovely. “I got beat up a little bit. They shouldn’t do that. So you understand.”
In a statement Friday, Centcom acknowledged that the Trump administration considers the Everlovely attack to be a violation of the memorandum of understanding.
“The unwarranted attack on a commercial vessel by Iranian forces is a clear violation of the ceasefire,” Centcom wrote.
“Furthermore, Iran’s dangerous actions have undermined freedom of navigation as commerce increasingly flows through important international trade corridors.”
The U.S. military pledged to “continue to provide safe navigation” to all commercial vessels in the straits and called on all parties to comply with the memorandum of understanding.
Vice President J.D. Vance echoed this sentiment, warning that “violence will be met with violence.”
“Iran has signed a cease-fire agreement, and we have respected it. If we have disagreements about how to apply the memorandum, we can take the call,” he said on social media.
overcome ambiguity
Al Jazeera correspondent Kimberly Halkett explained that Friday’s airstrike was likely to be framed by the White House as an act of deterrence. But he noted that the U.S. response so far appears to be more restrained than in past attacks.
“There is no question that the fact that the United States acted cautiously suggests that the United States distinguishes between an attack by Iran on a merchant ship and an attack on a U.S. warship,” Halkett said.
“But there is definitely concern in Washington about the risk of escalation as a result of this.”
Alan Eyre, a former senior U.S. diplomat, said Friday’s attack highlights how fragile the current ceasefire is and how loosely written the memorandum of understanding is.
“The memorandum was a one-and-a-half page document and was characterized by ambiguities rather than bugs,” he explained. “There were a lot of ambiguities that we had to fill in later.”
This led to a conflict over how ships should be allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
Elieh said Iran had agreed to allow traffic to resume, but only under its control and with permission. It clashed with the United States’ vision for the Straits.
“They don’t want a new normal established where every ship passing through the strait has to coordinate with the Revolutionary Guards or the Iranian authorities,” Eyre said.
“This just goes to show that there are many surrounding dangers for ships passing through the strait if they do not follow Iranian procedures, and Iran maintains sufficient military power to threaten ships using Oman’s shipping lanes.”
