US strikes Iran after drone attack on cargo ship threatens ceasefire
Retaliatory airstrikes hit missile storage and radar sites as fragile Strait of Hormuz deal hangs in the balance.
THE United States launched airstrikes against Iranian military targets on Friday (US time) in retaliation for a drone attack on a commercial cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz that President Donald Trump called a "foolish violation" of the ceasefire.
US Central Command said American aircraft struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites in what it described as a "powerful response" to "unwarranted aggression against commercial shipping".
The strikes targeted facilities near the southern Iranian port of Sirik after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps hit the Singapore-flagged container ship MV Ever Lovely with a one-way attack drone on Thursday as it exited the strait along the Omani coast.
Trump said Iran fired at least four drones at ships in the strait, with three intercepted and the fourth striking the upper deck of the Ever Lovely.
The ship's owner, Taiwanese company Evergreen Marine, said the vessel sustained damage to its bridge windows but no crew were injured, and the ship continued on its way with all navigation equipment functioning.
Iran's IRGC responded to the US strikes by claiming it had attacked American military positions in the region, warning that any further aggression would be met with a "more extensive" response.
The exchange of fire has thrown the fragile ceasefire into doubt just nine days after Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a memorandum of understanding in a deal brokered by Pakistan.
The June 17 agreement was meant to trigger a 60-day period of no hostilities and allow commercial vessels to pass through the strait at no charge.
About 20 per cent of the world's seaborne oil trade passed through the waterway before Iran shut it down in response to coordinated US-Israeli airstrikes on Iranian military and nuclear sites in February.
The closure sparked a global fuel crisis that drove up oil, gas and fertiliser prices and left about 20,000 mariners and 2,000 ships stranded in the Persian Gulf.
The dispute centres on who controls passage through the strait, with Iran insisting ships must use Tehran-approved routes and the US and its allies demanding free navigation.
The IRGC's so-called Persian Gulf Strait Authority warned after the Ever Lovely attack that any ship using unauthorised routes would not be covered by safe passage guarantees.
US Vice President JD Vance backed the strikes, writing on social media that Iran could "pick up the phone" if it had issues with the memorandum.
"Iran signed a ceasefire agreement. We have honoured it," Mr Vance wrote.
"But violence will be met with violence."
The International Maritime Organisation paused its plan to evacuate stranded sailors from the strait after the Ever Lovely attack.
The UN maritime agency had been coordinating an alternative shipping route that avoids Iranian waters by hugging the coastline of the United Arab Emirates and bending along Oman's Musandam Peninsula.
The Gulf Cooperation Council, meeting in Bahrain this week with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, condemned Iran's attacks and affirmed the need for free transit of the strait.
Mr Rubio said there was "zero support among the Gulf countries for any sort of toll or fees" on ships using the waterway.
The IRGC also forced three foreign oil tankers to turn around in the strait on Friday, warning that attempting to cross without Tehran's permission was "illegal, unacceptable and highly dangerous".
Trump told reporters at the White House he did not like the fact that Iran "took a shot" at a commercial vessel.
"You'll find out," he said when asked whether Iran would face consequences.