The U.S. military announced it was carrying out additional strikes against Iran, a day after launching new attacks.
The escalation is the most severe since the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to end fighting in mid-June, threatening a return to full-scale war.
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The U.S. military, Central Command (CENTCOM), said on Wednesday’s X news agency that at the direction of President Donald Trump, the U.S. military has “launched additional strikes against Iran to further reduce Iran’s ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.”
“The United States is holding Iran accountable for its recent unwarranted aggression against commercial vessels and civilian crews navigating freely through critical international waterways,” Centcom said.
The post came shortly after Iran’s Mehr news agency reported that air defense forces engaged what it described as “hostile targets” near the port city of Bandar Abbas, and that explosions occurred near Konark, Chabahar and Bushehr. Mair later reported hearing explosions in the southeastern city of Iranshahr.
Iranian officials later told Fars news agency that the attack on Chabahar also included attacks on a maritime control tower and a warehouse.
The United States and Iran have both accused the other of violating a memorandum of understanding that ended hostilities, lifted the U.S. naval blockade against Iran and opened the Strait of Hormuz, while leaving more difficult questions, such as Iran’s nuclear program and the future of control of the strait, to be decided during a 60-day negotiation period.
The main point of contention appears to be over Article 5 of the memorandum, which stipulates that Iran “will use its best efforts to ensure the safe passage of commercial vessels from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Oman, and vice versa, free of charge for a period of 60 days.”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghai said Wednesday that Iran interprets the provision to mean it is solely responsible for “determining the arrangements for safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.” This position has been used to justify attacks on unauthorized vessels passing through the Straits.
“The memorandum called on the US to lift the mutual blockade of Iranian ports, which it has lifted.[It]also called on the US to waive sanctions on Iranian oil sales, which the US has done. It also called on Iran not to disrupt civilian shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” David de Roches, former Pentagon chief of NATO operations, told Al Jazeera.
He explained that when Iran attacked these ships, it was trying to instill a new normal beyond the terms of the memorandum, where ships must pass through Iranian territorial waters or Iran will attack them.
“That is unacceptable to President Trump, so this airstrike is retaliation for that act,” De Roches said.
The Trump administration insists the memorandum calls for free navigation for all ships, Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett reported from Washington, D.C.
“Since signing the Memorandum of Understanding and providing a 60-day grace period to allow for broader negotiations, the United States has maintained that the escalation in conflict and military confrontation is a result of Iran’s exercise of sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, which the White House has maintained is an international waterway and necessary to the global economy,” Halkett said.
The strikes have drawn condemnation from Trump’s political opponents, including U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who said a war with Iran would “kill more lives and waste more taxpayer dollars.”
In a speech earlier Wednesday, President Trump said a series of attacks by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) on U.S. military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait meant the ceasefire was “over.”
“This is in retaliation for yesterday’s ship bombing by Iran,” President Trump posted on social media. “If it happens again, it will be even worse!
Still, he said he did not want a return to full-scale war and suggested negotiations could still continue.
Speaking at the NATO summit in Ankara, President Trump also laid out an extensive list of threats against Iran.
In addition to additional strikes, President Trump said the United States could renew its naval blockade against Iran and target the country’s power and water facilities. International law experts say the attack amounted to a war crime.
He also said that U.S. forces “could occupy” Iran’s Kharg Island, but that would almost certainly require setting foot on the ground.
