The United States military says it has completed a round of air strikes against Iran, with bombings reported in several locations in the south of the country.<\/p>\n
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the strikes began on Tuesday and were conducted \u201cin response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz\u201d.<\/p>\n
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CENTCOM said that the strikes had hit \u201cover 80 targets with precision munitions\u201d before concluding the strikes approximately four hours after they began.<\/p>\n
Iranian military leaders have vowed a \u201ccrushing response\u201d to the attack, adding that they would not allow foreign interference in the management of the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
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Iranian media reported several explosions in the southern port city of Sirik, where projectiles were said to have hit commercial and fishing piers, as well as Qeshm Island and areas near Bandar Abbas.<\/p>\n
Sirens also sounded in Kuwait and Bahrain hours after the initial attacks on Iran. Kuwait\u2019s army said the country\u2019s air defences were confronting \u201chostile\u201d missile and drone attacks.<\/p>\n
The US strikes targeted Iranian air defence systems, coastal surveillance systems, surface-to-air missiles, antiship cruise missiles and drone launch sites, an unnamed US official told the Reuters news agency. Iranian state media reported that several people were injured by shrapnel at the Sirik commercial pier.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccording to state TV, six explosions have been heard on the island of Qeshm, which is the largest island in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz, with very geostrategic significance when it comes to Iran\u2019s control and authority over the Strait of Hormuz,\u201d Al Jazeera\u2019s Tohid Asadi reported from Tehran.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe state TV also says that at least seven explosions have been heard in the areas close to Sirik Port, which is very important because it oversees the Strait of Hormuz, another strategic point from which Iran imposes its control and authority over the Strait of Hormuz,\u201d Asadi said.<\/p>\n
\u201cStarting from the time after the signing of the [memorandum of understanding], we have been witnessing limited confrontation and escalation in this highly escalated situation at the Strait of Hormuz,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
So far, there has been no response from Iran\u2019s military, Asadi said. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who was in Iraq for the funeral procession of Iran\u2019s slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, headed back to Iran after the attacks.<\/p>\n
Following the blasts, Iran\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it held the US government responsible for the consequences of breaching the memorandum of understanding (MoU) agreed between the two countries in June, which was supposed to put an end to the war the US and Israel began against Iran in late February. The MoU mandated<\/a> lifting the US naval blockade on Iran in exchange for Tehran reopening the vital Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n The US also agreed at the end of June to waive sanctions<\/a> on Iranian oil for 60 days.<\/p>\n However, the US Department of the Treasury on Tuesday moved to revoke<\/a> the temporary suspension of sanctions on Iranian oil, less than 20 days after the MoU was signed. The department cancelled a licence announced in June that had allowed Iran to produce, sell and deliver crude oil and related products through August 21.<\/p>\n Mohammad Ghalibaf, Iran\u2019s chief negotiator called the reinstating of oil sanctions \u201cmajor MoU violations\u201d by the US, citing \u201cattacks on southern Iran\u201d as further violations.<\/p>\n The move by the Treasury Department comes after tankers in the Strait of Hormuz were attacked. A Qatari tanker caught fire<\/a> off the coast of Oman Monday after being struck by an\u00a0\u201cunknown projectile\u201d<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).<\/p>\n Iranian television reported claims that the liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker came under attack after ignoring warnings, but Tehran did not directly claim the assault. Neither CENTCOM nor Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commented on the incident.<\/p>\n A second ship, a Saudi-flagged crude oil tanker, was also damaged in the Strait of Hormuz when the IRGC fired missiles, sources told Reuters.<\/p>\n A US \u2060official warned that Iran\u2019s attacks on vessels in the Strait \u200cof Hormuz were \u201cwholly unacceptable\u201d and would \u200cbe \u200cmet with consequences, Reuters reported Tuesday.<\/p>\n