U.S. launches fresh strikes on Iran after Trump warned peace deal is ‘over’

U.S. says strikes are in response to attacks on ships in Strait of Hormuz

Trump says agreement with Iran to end war is ‘over’

U.S. President Donald Trump says he considers the memorandum of understanding with Iran, which includes a ceasefire, to be ‘over.’ Earlier, Tehran carried out new attacks on U.S. bases in the Gulf after U.S. forces struck Iranian targets in response to attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. ‌military said on Wednesday it was launching fresh strikes on Iran aimed at keeping the critical Strait of Hormuz open to traffic, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump declared that an interim agreement to end the war with Iran was “over.”

The latest round of attacks, which the United States said was launched in response to Tuesday’s assault on three cargo ships transiting the strait, rattled several cities along Iran’s southern coast and left some areas without power.

“U.S. Central Command forces have started conducting additional strikes against Iran to further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” U.S. Central Command, the U.S. military’s Middle East ⁠command, wrote on X.

“The United States is holding Iran ⁠accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway.”

Control of the strait, through which a fifth of global oil supplies pass, has given Tehran immense ‌leverage, effectively allowing it to force a stalemate with the world’s most powerful military. While Iran has not claimed responsibility for the ship attacks, analysts say Tehran uses such actions to underscore that leverage as it negotiates a long-term peace deal with the U.S.

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The latest escalation dented hopes of turning a memorandum of understanding signed on June 17 into a permanent peace deal to end the war, which began with U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran on Feb. 28. Iran said on Wednesday it had attacked U.S. military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait in response to earlier U.S. strikes.

‘I don’t want to deal with them’: Trump

Asked before a NATO summit in Turkey whether the memorandum of understanding was over, Trump said: “It’s a very interesting question. To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them.”

“If we make a deal with Iran I’m ⁠not sure that will stick,” Trump later said. “I found them to be very dishonourable people.”

But Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to escalate military action before backing off, said he did not expect a return to full-fledged war, and that it was not clear whether the negotiations to reach a permanent deal would continue.

Three boats are pictured in the water in an aerial black and white photo. — The U.S. Central Command said more than 60 small boats of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were among the targets hit during the operation on Tuesday. Above, vessels identified by U.S. Central Command as IRGC boats before they were struck. (U.S. Central Command/Reuters)

Iran’s state news agency reported sounds of explosions in several areas on Iran’s southern coast on the Gulf, ⁠including at the port of Bandar Abbas, and in the cities of Chabahar and Konarak, and that electricity had been cut off in parts of Chabahar.

Nournews, affiliated with Iran’s top security body, cited an Iranian military source as saying that Iran was planning to soon launch a “massive attack” on U.S. Army bases in the region in retaliation.

8 personnel killed in prior U.S. strikes

Iranian state media said eight Iranian service personnel had been killed in the prior U.S. strikes.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the U.S. attacks had violated ⁠the memorandum by challenging a clause that “emphasizes the Islamic Republic of Iran’s responsibility in determining arrangements for the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.”

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said that, to be understood, Iran must speak to Trump in the language ‌of force. Iran’s Press TV cited an “informed source” as saying Iran would close the strait in the event of new U.S. attacks.

A spokesperson for the Iranian parliament’s National Security Commission said options for retaliation included withdrawing from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, changing Iran’s nuclear doctrine and closing the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait at the mouth of the Red Sea, another crucial global shipping route. — Thomson Reuters