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The US military launched fresh strikes against Iran on Saturday after Tehran targeted another vessel near the Strait of Hormuz.
US Central Command said navy and air force jets targeted military surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defence sites, drone storage facilities, and mine-laying capabilities in response to an Iranian one-way drone attack on the Panama-flagged M/T Kiku oil tanker as it was transiting near the Strait.
“After yesterday’s U.S. strikes in response to the Iranian attack on M/V Ever Lovely, Iran was given a chance to honor the ceasefire agreement but elected not to,” CENTCOM said in a statement.
CENTCOM shared unclassified footage on social media appearing to show the strikes.
The US also carried out strikes on Iran on Friday after another Iranian drone attack on the M/V Ever Lovely ship. US aircraft targeted Iranian missile and drone storage locations as well as coastal radar sites, CENTCOM said.
In response, Tehran accused Washington of violating the terms of their “memorandum of understanding” and conducted missile and drone attacks on US infrastructure in Bahrain and Kuwait.
Ebrahim Azizi, the head of the Iranian parliament’s national security commission, said on Friday that the US strikes showed Trump had “no commitment to the principles of negotiation or a ceasefire”.
“This reckless violation of the ceasefire will, as always, lead to retreat and regret on their part,” he wrote on social media.
The renewed tensions will cast further doubt on the US and Iran’s provisional peace deal, which was signed earlier this month.
Under the terms of the agreement, Washington and Tehran had agreed to a ceasefire and to secure shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil and gas transit chokepoint.
The US is required to remove its naval blockade of Iran while Tehran must reopen the Strait and reaffirm that it “shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons”. The agreement gave the two countries 60 days to achieve a final deal.