American forces launched strikes against the Iranian regime in response to the Islamic Republic’s attacks on civilian-manned commercial ships on Tuesday.
U.S. Central Command said that its forces “have begun launching a series of powerful strikes against Iran to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway.”
“The U.S. strikes are in response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTCOM said. “Iran’s demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous and a clear violation of the ceasefire.”
Iran fired missiles at commercial ships transiting the waterway between Iran and Oman, reportedly causing significant damage but no casualties.
The strikes come as the U.S. Treasury Department reimposed sanctions on the export of Iranian oil in response to Iran’s attacks, and as U.S. President Donald Trump is currently in Ankara, Turkey, for a NATO summit.
Jason Brodsky, policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran, said that “the costs for Iran’s regime’s violations of the memorandum of understanding have been increasing.”
Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, called the renewed strikes a “brilliant step.”
“CENTCOM is disciplining Islamic Iran, which was taking America’s measurements and testing its limits,” he said.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, Kazem Gharibabadi, accused the United States of violating the memorandum of understanding, not only with Tuesday’s renewed strikes but also due to recent “actions of the Zionist regime in Lebanon and threatening statements against Iran.”
He warned that Iran “will take decisive actions to safeguards its national interests and security.”
Abdul-Hussain responded that “Islamic Iran lives in a parallel universe. It strikes first then accuses the American reaction of violating the ceasefire memorandum of understanding.”
“How can the world reason with such a problematic regime,” Abdul-Hussain said.
