The United States military has conducted another wave of strikes on Iran, a day after it launched a round of attacks, threatening a return to full-fledged war.<\/p>\n
The escalation on Wednesday \u2013 the most severe since both sides signed a memorandum of understanding in mid-June that ended the fighting \u2013 saw the US launch attacks on the eastern Iranian cities of Iranshahr, Bandar Abbas, Konarak, Chabahar, and Bushehr, as well as Aq Qala in northeastern Iran.<\/p>\n
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One firefighter was killed in an attack on the Iranshahr airport, state news agency IRNA reported.<\/p>\n
The US military\u2019s Central Command (CENTCOM) said early on Thursday that it had completed \u201can additional round of strikes against Iran \u2026 to further degrade Iran\u2019s ability to attack commercial shipping and innocent civilian mariners in the Strait of Hormuz\u201d.<\/p>\n
CENTCOM said that 90 Iranian military targets had been hit \u201d including air defense systems, coastal surveillance assets, missile and drone storage sites, naval capabilities, and military logistics infrastructure along Iran\u2019s coastline\u201d.<\/p>\n
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Iranian officials had told the Fars news agency that attacks on Chabahar included strikes on a maritime control tower and a depot. Iranian state media also reported that a railway bridge had been targeted in Aq Qala.<\/p>\n
Hours after the US strikes, air raid sirens sounded in Bahrain, and Kuwait\u2019s Ministry of Defence reported that the country\u2019s air defences were confronting rocket and drone attacks.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards later said they attacked two US bases in Kuwait and two in Bahrain, adding that a future response could extend to other US bases in the region if the US continues its attacks.<\/p>\n
Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman for the Iranian Parliament\u2019s National Security Committee, had warned of a response after Wednesday\u2019s US attacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWait for the hard slap by Iranians,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/p>\n
The US also conducted attacks on Iran on Tuesday, saying its strikes were conducted \u201cin response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz\u201d.<\/p>\n
CENTCOM said it hit \u201cover 80 targets with precision munitions\u201d before concluding the strikes approximately four hours after they had begun.<\/p>\n
Eight service personnel from the country\u2019s air force and navy were killed in Tuesday\u2019s attacks, which struck the southern cities of Bandar Abbas and Bushehr, state news agency IRNA reported, citing a statement from the Iranian army.<\/p>\n
Both the US and Iran have accused the other of violating the MoU, which ended the war, lifted the US naval blockade on Iran, and opened the Strait of Hormuz. But it left more intractable issues, like the future of Iran\u2019s nuclear programme and the administration of the Strait of Hormuz, to be determined over a 60-day negotiating period.<\/p>\n
The key point of contention appears to be over the fifth clause of the MoU, which says that Iran \u201cwill make arrangements using its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels, with no charge for 60 days only, from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Oman, and vice versa\u201d.<\/p>\n
Iran has interpreted the provision to mean it had sole \u201cresponsibility in determining arrangements for the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz\u201d, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Wednesday. That position has been used to justify attacks on unapproved vessels transiting the strait.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe MoU required the US to lift its reciprocal blockade of Iran\u2019s ports \u2013 which it did \u2013 [and it] required the US to waive sanctions for the Iranian sale of oil \u2013 which it did \u2013 and it required Iran to not interfere with civilian shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,\u201d David Des Roches, former Pentagon NATO operations director, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n
When Iran attacked these ships, Tehran was trying to instil a new normal beyond the terms of the MoU, in which ships had to go through Iranian waters, and Iran would attack them if they did not, he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s unacceptable to President Trump. So these strikes are a retaliation to that action,\u201d said Des Roches.<\/p>\n
Following Wednesday\u2019s strikes, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran\u2019s parliament speaker, said the Strait of Hormuz \u201cwill only open with \u2018Iranian arrangements\u2019, not American threats\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmerica still hasn\u2019t learned that bullying and breaking promises are no longer cost-free. Let me put it plainly: if you strike, you\u2019ll get hit,\u201d Ghalibaf posted on social media.<\/p>\n
Al Jazeera\u2019s Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Washington, DC, said the Trump administration has maintained that the MoU requires unfettered passage to all vessels.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince the signing of the memorandum of understanding, opening that 60-day window to allow for broader negotiations, the US has insisted that any uptick in conflict and military clashes is the result of Iran exercising sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, which the White House insists is an international waterway and necessary for the global economy,\u201d Halkett said.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One, Trump did not rule out a return to full-scale war.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just hit them very hard, and I say we hit them 20 to 1,\u201d he said, adding that every time \u201cthey hit us, we\u2019re going to hit them 20\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, at a news conference earlier on Wednesday, he had said that he did not think the war would restart. \u201cAnything that happens is going to be over very quickly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The latest strikes have drawn condemnation from Trump\u2019s political opponents, including progressive US Senator Bernie Sanders, who said that a return to war would \u201ccost more lives and waste more taxpayer dollars\u201d.<\/p>\n
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren also condemned Trump\u2019s actions, saying that his \u201cwar with Iran has cost American lives\u201d.<\/p>\n
Speaking earlier on Wednesday, Trump said the exchange of attacks<\/a> meant the ceasefire was \u201cover\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is in retribution for yesterday\u2019s bombing of ships by Iran,\u201d Trump posted on social media. \u201cIf it happens again, it will get much worse!\u201d<\/p>\n