Iran promises ‘crushing response’ after US strikes hit more than 80 targets

Washington/Tehran: The US military unleashed a new wave of strikes against Iran and revoked a licence allowing the country to sell oil after three tankers were hit in the Strait of Hormuz, putting pressure on an already fragile ceasefire.

After a day in which huge crowds mourned Iran’s slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the holy city of Qom, US Central Command announced on X that it had begun a series of strikes intended to impose heavy costs.

Iranian media reported explosions early Wednesday local time on Iran’s main oil hub of 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 pier in Sirik, according to an Iranian state TV reporter. The reports said strikes also hit fishing piers in Sirik and in Bandar Abbas, where several fishing boats were set ablaze.

Iran’s Press TV said several blasts were heard on Kharg Island in southern Iran. The report did not provide details on the cause of the explosions, possible damage or casualties, and there was no confirmation from the US military. Kharg Island, from which Iran exports 90 per cent of its crude oil, was last attacked by the US in April.

In a post on X just before noon on Wednesday (AEST), CENTCOM said it had completed its new round of attacks against Iran, striking more than 80 targets.

“US forces struck Iranian air defence systems, command and control networks, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile capabilities, and more than 60 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps small boats in and near the strait [of Hormuz] to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking international commerce flowing through the international trade corridor,” it said in a statement.

“The unwarranted aggression by Iranian forces is a clear and dangerous violation of the ceasefire and undermines freedom of navigation. CENTCOM forces remain postured and prepared to hold Iran accountable when the agreement is not adhered to or obeyed.”

In response, Iranian parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf accused the United States on Wednesday of major violations of the interim peace agreement, citing US attacks on Iran, renewed oil sanctions, threats of further strikes, violations of Iranian “adjustments” in the Strait of Hormuz, and continued Israeli attacks against Lebanon.

“The era of bullying and extortion is over,” Qalibaf said in a post on X. “We don’t fold.”

Earlier, Iran’s top joint military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said Iranian armed forces would deliver a “crushing response” to the US military’s “blatant act of aggression”.

It warned that Tehran would not allow US interference in the management of the Strait of Hormuz, adding that the only safe passage for commercial vessels and oil tankers through the waterway was the route determined by Iran.

The flare-up threatens the ceasefire that the US and Iran struck last month, pausing the conflict that started in February with US and Israeli strikes across the Islamic Republic.

In a potentially major blow to that agreement, Washington moved on Tuesday (US time) to withdraw a key concession that had allowed Iran to sell oil on international markets.

A US official said earlier that negotiators continued to work in good faith towards a final agreement 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.

Analysts say that Tehran uses attacks on ships to underscore that leverage as it negotiates a long-term peace deal with the US. Under last month’s interim US-Iran agreement, the US Treasury issued a June 22 general licence to allow the sale of crude oil and petrochemical and petroleum products of Iranian origin until August 21.

In revoking that licence on Tuesday, it gave Iran until July 17 to wind down any transactions. Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned the Treasury’s move, saying that the decision breached the framework agreement to end the war and adding that Washington would be responsible for the consequences.

The ministry on Wednesday said Iran would take any measure it deemed necessary to safeguard its interests and national security.

Qatar blamed Iran for attacking the vessels, including the huge Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker, the Al Rekayyat, which reported being struck by a drone that caused a fire in its engine room. The crew were safe and being evacuated.

A Saudi-flagged crude oil tanker, believed to be the supertanker Wedyan, was also damaged off Oman, according to maritime security sources. The cause was not immediately clear.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said it had summoned Iran’s deputy ambassador and handed him a protest note following the attack on the tanker.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Qatar’s accusations were perplexing, and that Tehran was diligently fulfilling its commitments, but it asserted that commercial vessels faced risks for using routes not co-ordinated with Iran.

A second US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that initial indications were that Iran had fired at three commercial vessels.

Iran’s clerical rulers aim to install a permanent system to collect fees in what would amount to a huge shift of the balance of power in a region where Washington has long acted as guarantor of security.

At home, the leadership has used the mourning for Khamenei that began last week to show its control after Khamenei was killed with his daughter, granddaughter, son-in-law and daughter-in-law on the war’s first day.

The caskets of the former supreme leader and his family were driven through the streets of the seminary city of Qom on Tuesday, where many hundreds of thousands of people carried flags and banners comparing Khamenei to revered Shi’ite martyrs.

In chants, they vowed to avenge Khamenei. Some bore placards and banners reading “KILL TRUMP”.

Later on Tuesday, Iranian state media showed what it said was footage of an airplane carrying Khamenei’s coffin at the airport of the Shi’ite holy shrine city of Najaf in neighbouring Iraq.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who was in Iraq to participate in the funeral ceremonies, left for Iran after US strikes on southern Iran, state television reported.

The war has been paused under the interim peace deal reached last month, intended to provide a 60-day period for negotiations on a permanent deal. A round of indirect talks in Qatar ended last week with no sign of headway towards a lasting peace.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to resume bombing, most recently on Monday when he told reporters in the Oval Office: “We’re either going to make a deal or we’re going to finish the job … We can knock down their bridges in one hour, we can knock out their energy supply.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that under the terms of the interim ceasefire memorandum, negotiations on the final deal would “not commence if threats continue”.

In launching the war four months ago, Trump said that his aims were to destroy Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, end its ability to threaten its neighbours and create conditions for Iranians to topple their leaders.

None of those goals has been met, though Washington says a permanent deal will halt what it calls an Iranian program that could make a nuclear bomb, which Iran says it never sought.

Reuters

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