US hits Iran with latest ship attack and Tehran responds by hitting Arab countries – National
The United States attacked Iran early Sunday because of an Iranian strike on a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz that burned it and left one crew member missing. Iran has responded with attacks targeting several Middle Eastern countries, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and Oman – countries across the strait that Tehran wants to join in controlling traffic there.
The war has raised new questions about the interim deal Iran and the US reached on June 17, beginning a 60-day period aimed at ending the conflict permanently. The midpoint of that period comes midweek.
The Strait, a vital route for the supply of oil and natural gas to the world, has become a key point in the negotiations, and fighting over the past week has left talks at risk of collapse.
The US military’s Central Command said it hit about 140 targets in Sunday’s strikes, including missile and drone launch sites, ammunition dumps, telecommunications equipment and other sites. It said the attack, more severe than in recent days, would weaken Iran’s ability to threaten ships.
“All hell broke loose on them last night,” President Donald Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Iranian Semiofficial news agencies reported the death of a naval officer. Iran has retaliated by attacking nations in the region that host US forces, while insisting that it alone must control the tide and charge ships that sail through it.
“The time for unilateral cooperation is OVER,” wrote Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, speaker of Iran’s parliament and chief negotiator. “We told you: keep your word or pay the price. The truth is knocking.”
The US launched three rounds of airstrikes against Iran last week in response to Iranian attacks on ships passing through the route from Oman, seeking to avoid the territory of the Islamic Republic.
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About a fifth of all commercial oil and natural gas passed through this river before the war began. Iran’s grip on it has led to a global energy crisis, even though oil prices have fallen sharply since the war, peaking at $120 a barrel.
The U.S. military and Trump asserted that the conflict remained open on Sunday. Iran said the road was closed until calm was restored, and would consider targeting “additional enemy bases in the region” if faced with further attacks.
Oman calls Iran’s embassy to protest
Missile alerts were heard in many Gulf Arab countries early Sunday morning.
Qatar’s military said it had intercepted Iranian fire, and gunfire from neighboring United Arab Emirates. Three people, including a child, were injured by explosives during the attack on Iran, Qatar’s Ministry of Interior said, without giving further details about their condition.
Missile alerts rang out in Bahrain, an island nation in the Persian Gulf that is home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet. The Kuwaiti military also said they blocked incoming fire.
The Omani news agency said the drones had attacked areas in the Strait of Hormuz and issued a shelter-in-place warning to residents of the region. The attack happened a day after Oman and Iran held talks on the issue.
Oman summoned Iran’s embassy to protest the strikes, the first of its kind since the start of the war, calling Iran’s actions “irresponsible.”
Three Iranian missiles hit areas across Jordan, causing minor damage but no casualties, Jordanian state media reported.
Sirens were also heard in the UAE, but the government said the missiles did not hit its territory.
Iran strike on ship hurts Indian crew
The Cypriot-flagged ship was hit by Iran and suffered “severe engine room damage,” US Central Command said.
Oman’s maritime authorities said they had rescued 23 crew members but one was missing. India’s Ministry of External Affairs said the missing man was from India and was working with Oman to find him.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre, which is overseen by the British military, said the ship had been sailing along the coast of Oman.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said many of the ships “disregarded our warnings” and ignored instructions to follow what it called an authorized route. One was “fired as a warning shot and stopped.”
Iranian media later reported US strikes across the country, including in southern Iran in a province close to a military base and a military base in a province near Tehran.
The attack followed more diplomatic rhetoric about the strait
The strait lies in the waters of Iran and Oman but has long been considered an international waterway.
Oman said on Saturday that Iran also agreed to continue discussing the situation “at the technical and political levels.” Iran has not provided a statement on openness, something the Trump administration wants.
Trump suggested last week that the interim war deal was “over.” But negotiators, including Pakistan, Qatar and Egypt, continued efforts to reach an agreement. A district official involved in the settlement, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations, said efforts to end the dispute were continuing Sunday.
Iran’s new leader, who has not been seen since the start of the war, on Saturday vowed in his first statement since the burial of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that the Iranian people would avenge his killing in the opening strikes on February 28.
Such retaliation “is the will of our nation and must be carried out without fail,” Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said in a statement on state television.
