- US Central Command says it has hit more than 80 targets in Iran.
- US strikes after oil sales authorization was revoked.
- Several injured by shrapnel in Sirik.
The US military unleashed a new wave of attacks on Iran on Tuesday and revoked a license allowing the country to sell oil after three oil tankers were hit by projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz, putting pressure on an already fragile ceasefire.
After a day in which large crowds mourned Iran’s martyred Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the holy city of Qom, the US Central Command said it completed strikes that hit more than 80 targets in an effort to impose what it called high costs.
The military command said it attacked more than 60 small vessels of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial ships.
“The unjustified aggression by Iranian forces is a clear and dangerous violation of the ceasefire and undermines freedom of navigation,” CENTCOM said in a statement.
Iran’s top joint military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, denounced the US strikes as a “flagrant act of aggression,” threatened a “crushing response” and warned that Tehran would not allow US interference in the management of the strait.
Iranian media reported explosions early Wednesday local time in Iran’s main oil hub, Kharg Island, on Qeshm Island and in the southern port cities of Sirik and Bandar Abbas.
No civilian deaths were reported, but several people were injured by shrapnel from an “enemy projectile” that hit a commercial dock in Sirik, according to an Iranian state television reporter. Reports said the attacks also hit the Sirik and Bandar Abbas fishing docks, where several fishing boats were set on fire.
Iran TV Press He said several explosions were heard on Kharg Island in southern Iran. The report did not provide details about the cause of the explosions, possible damage or casualties.
The Centcom statement did not mention Kharg Island, from where Iran exports 90% of its crude oil. The island was last attacked by the United States in April.
A US official said Reuters The attacks targeted Iranian air defense systems, coastal surveillance systems, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship cruise missiles, and drone launch sites.
The incidents were just the latest threat to the ceasefire deal the U.S. and Iran signed last month, halting the conflict that began in February with U.S. and Israeli attacks across the Islamic Republic.
In a potentially major blow to that deal, Washington moved Tuesday to withdraw a key concession that had allowed Iran to sell oil on international markets.
A U.S. official previously said negotiators continued to work in good faith toward a final deal with Iran. But control of the strait has given Tehran immense leverage, effectively allowing it to force a stalemate with the world’s most powerful military.
Under the US-Iran interim agreement, the US Treasury issued a general license on June 22 to allow the sale of crude oil and petrochemical and petroleum products of Iranian origin until August 21. By revoking that license on Tuesday, it gave Iran until July 17 to close any transactions.
Any necessary measures
Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned the move as a violation of the framework agreement to end the war and said Washington would take responsibility for the consequences.
The ministry said early on Wednesday that Iran would take any measures it deemed necessary to safeguard its interests and national security.
Qatar blamed Iran for attacking the ships, including the massive Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker, the Al Rekayyat, which reported being hit overnight by a drone that caused a fire in its engine room. The crew was safe and being evacuated.
A Saudi-flagged tanker, believed to be the Wedyan supertanker, was also damaged off Oman, maritime security sources said. The cause was not immediately clear.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said it had summoned Iran’s deputy ambassador and handed him a note of protest following the attack on the tanker.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Qatar’s accusations were disconcerting and that Tehran was diligently fulfilling its commitments, but said commercial ships faced risks from using routes not coordinated with Iran.
A second U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said initial indications were that Iran had fired on three commercial vessels.
Iran’s rulers aim to install a permanent system for collecting tariffs in what would amount to a huge shift in the balance of power in a region where Washington has long acted as guarantor of security.
At home, leaders have used the mourning for Khamenei that began last week to show their control after Khamenei was martyred with his daughter, granddaughter, son-in-law and daughter-in-law on the first day of the war.
The coffins of the martyred leader and his family were carried through the streets of the seminary city of Qom on Tuesday. Iranian state media later showed what they said were images of a plane carrying Khamenei’s coffin at the airport in the holy city of Najaf in neighboring Iraq.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who was in Iraq to take part in the funeral ceremonies, left for Iran after the US strikes in southern Iran, state television reported.
The ceasefire was intended to provide a 60-day window for negotiations on a permanent deal, but indirect talks in Qatar ended last week with no sign of progress.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to resume bombing, most recently on Monday when he told reporters in the Oval Office: “Either we’re going to make a deal or we’re going to finish the job… We can take down your bridges in an hour, we can cut off your power supply.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that under the terms of the interim ceasefire memorandum, negotiations on the final deal “would not begin if threats continue.”
