‘Now they pay’: US strikes Iran again after regime declares Strait of Hormuz closed

Washington: The United States has unleashed a third wave of strikes against Iran after the Islamic regime defied an ultimatum to guarantee safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz and attacked a Cyprus-flagged cargo ship transiting the waterway.

Iran responded by targeting US facilities in states across the Gulf.

The escalation in fighting comes nearly a month after the two sides inked a memorandum of understanding that prolonged a ceasefire and began 60 days of negotiations for a permanent peace deal. US President Donald Trump has since declared that agreement “over”.

The navy of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had struck a vessel that “jeopardised maritime security by switching off its systems”, without providing any details about the ship.

It also contended that several ships had attempted to move through the strait on an “unauthorised route” and disregarded warnings to correct their course.

The strait was closed “until further notice” and until “the end of US interference in this region”, the IRGC said. Acts of aggression against Iran “will be met with a severe response, and new enemy bases in the region will be targeted”.

Shortly afterwards, US Central Command announced it had started a third round of bombing, on Trump’s orders. It identified the vessel attacked by the IRGC as the M/V GFS Galaxy, a Cyprus-flagged container ship, and said one crew member was missing.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said the crew had been forced to abandon ship due to a fire on board and was in a lifeboat.

“Iran was provided yet another opportunity to demonstrate adherence to the memorandum of understanding after being held accountable for earlier attacks on commercial vessels but has again failed,” the US military said.

“In response, the United States is imposing a heavy cost by continuing to degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the strait. The strikes are being carried out at the direction of the commander in chief.”

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed his department’s statement and added: “Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay.”

Centcom later said it hit some 140 targets, going after missile and drone launch sites, ammunition dumps, communication equipment and other sites.

In response, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had destroyed a command and control centre and drone hangars at a base in US ally Jordan, targeted a US military radar site in Kuwait, attacked US aircraft carrier support and refuelling platforms in Oman and destroyed a fighter jet maintenance centre and command and control facility in Qatar. Qatar’s government said three people, including a child, had been injured by falling shrapnel from the attack.

The IRGC also said it had struck and disabled a second vessel in the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump, who spent most of Saturday (US time) at his golf club in Virginia, had not commented at the time of writing. But on Friday, he declared the ceasefire “over”, while also saying the US and Iran had agreed to continue talks.

Also on Friday, senior US officials briefed reporters that the Trump administration had demanded Iran issue a public statement guaranteeing safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, and pledge they would no longer shoot at ships in the waterway.

“They’re either going to give us that statement, or we’re not going to have a good outcome,” a US official said. No such statement was forthcoming from Iran in the subsequent 24 hours.

Last week saw the most serious escalation in fighting since a ceasefire began in April – despite the MoU entered into by both sides in mid-June.

It began when Iranian forces fired at three Qatari and Saudi tankers in or near the strait last week, prompting the US to launch strikes and Iran to fire missiles and drones at American military assets in Gulf states. The US also revoked permission for Iran to sell crude oil on global markets – a concession it made in the MoU.

A senior Iranian source told Reuters that Iran, the US, Qatar and Pakistan agreed to negotiate in a call that mediators were trying to arrange for Saturday while Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, was in Oman. It was not immediately clear whether the efforts were successful.

Meanwhile, Araghchi and his Omani counterpart, Sayyid Badr Albusaidi, met in Oman to exchange “views on appropriate mechanisms for the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz”, according to a statement from the Iranian foreign minister.

The MoU signed by the US and Iran declared that the strait would be open for 60 days but that after that, Iran and Oman would “define the future administration and maritime services” in the strait, in concert with Gulf states that border the waterway.

Last week, amid the renewed hostilities, Iran’s parliamentary Speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, warned Washington that “bullying and breaking promises are no longer cost-free”.

“Let me put it plainly: if you strike, you’ll get hit,” he wrote on X. “The Strait of Hormuz will only open with ‘Iranian arrangements’, not American threats.”

On Sunday, he posted: “The era of one-sided deals is OVER. We told you: keep your word or pay the price. Reality is knocking.”

Iran threatens to avenge supreme leader’s killing

A written statement from Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, on Saturday threatened vengeance for the death of his predecessor and father, who was killed on February 28. Released to mark funeral ceremonies for former leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday, which the new leader did not attend, it said the vengeance would take place whatever happened to Iran.

“We pledge to avenge the blood of the martyred leader and all the martyrs,” the message said.

Trump posted on Friday that he had ordered the US military to be prepared to launch thousands of missiles against Iran if Tehran attempted to assassinate him. The Wall Street Journal and other US media reported this week that Israel had shared intelligence with Washington that Iran had recently devised a plan to assassinate Trump.

At the funeral ceremonies on Thursday, a huge crowd of mourners packed a courtyard, some bearing banners reading, “We Will Kill Trump”.