The US military said on Sunday it had struck 10 targets in Iran at President Donald Trump’s direction, continuing a string of attacks that have shaken the war’s uneasy ceasefire.
US Central Command, in a post to social media, said that US military aircraft targeted Iranian military “surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defence sites, drone storage facilities, and minelayer capabilities” following an attack on a merchant vessel early on Sunday morning. It later specified the strikes involved 10 Iranian military targets at multiple locations in and near the Strait of Hormuz.
The ongoing strikes in the region show the danger of the Iran war again spinning out of control, even after Iran and the US reached an interim deal to try and agree on a final accord to end the conflict.
The incident follows a similar back and forth that occurred just days prior when an Iranian drone struck a merchant vessel off the coast of Oman on Thursday and the US military retaliated with strikes the next day.
US says strikes were a response to Iranian attack on oil tanker
US Central Command said that in this latest attack Iranian forces attacked the oil tanker Kiku with a one-way drone. The tanker was laden with more than two million barrels of crude oil and sailing through the Strait of Hormuz.
According to ship tracking websites, the Kiku left a Qatari oil field in the middle of the Arabian Gulf earlier in the week and was bound for a port in another Gulf country, just on the other side of the Strait of Hormuz.
It appeared to be attempting to use a route that was established near the coast of Oman that is serving as an alternative to the route sanctioned by Iran that runs through its own waters.
A multinational maritime body overseen by the US Navy said Saturday that it would expand the Omani route to allow for both inbound and outbound traffic, likely setting up a new flashpoint with Tehran, which sees the strait as a key source of leverage in ongoing talks with the US.
The US military said that “Iran had a chance to honour the ceasefire agreement” but “elected not to” when its forces attacked the Kiku.
Iran state TV reported explosions in an area just north of the Strait of Hormuz.
