Iran has accused the US of violating the agreement aimed at ending the war between the two sides, after the US military launched strikes around the strait of Hormuz and revoked a temporary sanctions waiver for Tehran to export oil.<\/p>\n
The US military said that it hit more than 80 targets in the early hours of Wednesday in response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels<\/a> that were \u2060transiting through the strait of Hormuz on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cIran\u2019s demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of \u200cthe ceasefire,\u201d US central command said, referring to the three tankers, including a Qatari LNG vessel, that were struck within hours in the strait.<\/p>\n Iran responded by launching attacks on US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps claiming 85 facilities had been targeted. Air raid sirens were heard in both countries and the Kuwaiti army said air defences were confronting \u201chostile\u201d missile and drone attacks, but there was no confirmation of any damage.<\/p>\n Wednesday\u2019s attacks were the latest in a string of ceasefire violations between the two sides, despite a truce that came into effect in April, and the signing of a memorandum of understanding<\/a> (MOU) last month that began 60 days of negotiations to resolve the issue of Iran\u2019s nuclear program and bring a permanent end to hostilities.<\/p>\n US officials speaking to multiple media outlets said Wednesday\u2019s attacks targeted Iranian weapon launch sites, air defences and coastal surveillance system. Iranian state media reported a series of explosions on the Iranian island of Qeshm in the strait of Hormuz, and in the city\u2019s of Sirik and Bandar Abbas.<\/p>\n US media reported that Donald Trump signed off on the strikes while attending the Nato summit in Turkey. Speaking on Wednesday morning, Nato\u2019s \u2060secretary general, Mark Rutte, backed the US attacks, saying: \u201cWhen you \u200bhave \u200ca \u200cceasefire and Iran \u200cis basically violating the ceasefire, I think it is \u200ctotally crucial that the \u200bU.S. forcefully react.\u201d<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s foreign ministry accused the US of repeated violations of the MOU and warned that it would take \u201cdecisive measures\u201d in response. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Tehran\u2019s chief negotiator in the talks with the US, said violations of the MOU included interference in the strait of Hormuz, Israeli attacks in Lebanon and strikes on southern Iran.<\/p>\n Ghalibaf also cited the US treasury\u2019s decision on Tuesday to \u2060revoke the \u2060temporary \u200bsuspension of sanctions on Iranian oil \u2060sales.<\/p>\n The US lifted sanctions on Iranian oil exports last month after signing the MOU, but re-imposed them on Tuesday after the attack on \u200bvessels in the strait \u200bof \u200cHormuz.<\/p>\n The waiver on Iranian oil exports proved to be controversial among critics of the Trump administration\u2019s Iran agreement, who said it amounted to the surrender of a key tool of economic leverage, before negotiations over the nuclear program had even begun.<\/p>\n The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre (UKMTO) said a Qatari tanker, Al Rekayyat, was among the vessels hit on Tuesday as it tried to travel south out of the strait toward the Gulf of Oman.<\/p>\n Qatar has been acting as a mediator in the talks between Washington and Tehran, but its foreign ministry spokesperson, Majed al-Ansari, called it a \u201cserious and explicit violation\u201d of international law and said Qatar would hold Iran fully responsible for the act of aggression.<\/p>\n All three tankers were hit close to Oman<\/a>, which has proposed a new shipping corridor close to its coastline, a suggestion which Iran opposes as it wants to charge ships to use the waterway.<\/p>\n Iran said on Tuesday that Washington\u2019s efforts to open up new routes through the strait constituted a breach of the memorandum of understanding the two parties had signed. Tehran claims the memorandum is specifically worded<\/a> to leave it, in consultation with Oman, to manage the reopening of the strait with the aim of commercial traffic returning to prewar levels within 30 days.<\/p>\n Experts have said that the vague wording of the MOU has left both sides interpreting the agreement in different ways, with the repeated misunderstandings a continuing threat the ceasefire.<\/p>\n