In an effort to ensure the security of the crucial Strait of Hormuz, the United States has undertaken additional military strikes against Iran.
On Sunday, the US Central Command publicized that at 5 p.m. EDT, its forces initiated these strikes. The goal is to diminish Iran’s capacity to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels navigating through the Strait of Hormuz.
The directives for the strikes were issued by President Donald Trump, aiming to hold Iran’s military forces accountable. This announcement followed Trump’s national televised statement affirming the strait’s openness for passage.
In related reports, the governor of Qeshm Island, which is located near the strait, informed Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency that missiles targeted military sites. Thankfully, these actions resulted in no casualties. Meanwhile, explosions were reported in the coastal city of Bandar Abbas and in Hajiabad to the north.
An anonymous US official speaking to the Associated Press confirmed that several strikes were executed. These targeted missile and air defense systems, as well as paramilitary Revolutionary Guard boats. The intention was to further weaken Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping lanes.
A spokesperson for US Central Command also claimed on CNN that Iranian forces had launched more attacks on commercial ships passing through the Strait, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil supply passes.
President Donald Trump directed additional strikes on Iran on Sunday to secure the Strait of Hormuz waterway
Shipping vessels are pictured in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday
The strait, which has long considered an international waterway, has become a sticking point in ceasefire negotiations.
As tensions remained, Iranian forces attacked a container ship in the strait, setting it ablaze and leaving one crew member missing on Saturday.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth vowed revenge, saying: ‘Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay.’
The US military then retaliated by hitting some 140 targets, including missile and drone launch sites, ammunition dumps, communication equipment and other sites, the military said earlier on Sunday.
‘We bombed the hell out of them last night,’ Trump added to NBC’s Meet the Press.
Iran then responded with attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and Oman – the nation on the other side of the strait that Tehran has pressed to collaborate in managing shipping traffic.
But Iranian officials insist they alone must control the strait – and have the authority to potentially charge vessels for traveling through it.
‘The era of one-sided deals is OVER,’ Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament and a main negotiator, wrote on social media.
‘We told you: keep your word or pay the price. Reality is knocking.’
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also declared the strait closed until further notice after the attack, vowing to attack ‘additional enemy bases in the region’ if it faced more attacks.
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament and a main negotiator for the country, declared that Iran must maintain control of the Strait of Hormuz
US Central Command posted dramatic video earlier on Sunday of the retaliatory strikes against Tehran after the Middle Eastern country fired on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz
The US said that the munitions hitting the Iranian targets on Saturday had been launched by aircraft, drones and vessels
Iranian forces had claimed the Cyprus–flagged container ship that was targeted on Saturday, which American authorities named as the M/V GFS Galaxy, was attempting to use an unauthorized route to cross the strait.
Its attack on the ship came as Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with his Omani counterpart on Saturday to discuss the strait.
Araghchi explained that the meeting in Muscat, Oman, was meant to discuss ‘appropriate mechanisms for ensuring the safe passage of ships,’ according to the Associated Press.
Omani and Iranian negotiators were set to continue talks ‘at the technical and political levels,’ Reuters reported, citing Oman’s state news agency.
But on Friday, President Trump said on Truth Social that while he had agreed to continue negotiating with Iran ‘the Cease Fire is OVER!’
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei released a written statement the following day, vowing to ‘avenge the blood of the martyred leader and all the martyrs of these two wars from the criminal and disgraced killers,’ per Reuters.
‘Whether we are there or not, this will be accomplished, and soon every free person around the world will fulfill a part of this divine mission,’ Khamenei’s statement read.
Khamenei has not been seen since he was appointed Supreme Leader after his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in US-Israeli airstrikes on February 28, when the war started.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei released a written statement, vowing to ‘avenge the blood of the martyred leader and all the martyrs of these two wars from the criminal and disgraced killers’
Despite the renewed strikes, the US military said more than 140 ships had transited the strait over the past week.
A multinational body overseen by the US Navy also said traffic continued ‘at reduced levels’ off both Oman and Iran, and that nearly 140 vessels transited daily before the war.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.