An F/A-18F Super Hornet, attached to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 41, prepares to launch from the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72).
Courtesy: U.S. Navy
The U.S. completed strikes against Iran on Tuesday in retaliation for Tehran’s attacks on three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Central Command said.
In a post on X, Centcom said U.S. forces hit over 80 targets including air defense systems, command and control networks, as well as anti-ship missile capabilities.
It added that more than 60 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ small boats were hit, so as to degrade Iran’s ability to attack international commerce.
While it was unclear if Iran had retaliated, Bahrain’s interior ministry urged civilians to head to “the nearest safe place.”
In an earlier post, Centcom said that the strikes were “to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway.”
“The U.S. strikes are in response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire.”
The new U.S. and Iranian attacks threaten to reignite conflict in the region, and could spark fears that the Strait of Hormuz will close again. Oil prices rose dramatically during the U.S.-Iran conflict, stoking inflation around the globe.
The strikes come after the U.S. and Iran traded blows last month after similar Iranian attacks on commercial vessels in the strait, which is one of the world’s most critical chokepoints that Iran held shut for months this year. Both sides agreed to stand down in the days following last month’s exchange amid a tenuous ceasefire as negotiations to end the war are underway.
Washington and Tehran agreed on a memorandum of understanding to end the conflict in June, which included an end to the fighting and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The latest U.S. retaliatory strikes will again test that agreement, which has held through previous skirmishes.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker, accused Washington of “major violations of the MOU,” listing U.S. threats of further strikes, among others. “The era of bullying and extortion is over. It leads nowhere. We don’t fold,” he said on X.
Tensions have been rising since Iran attacked vessels moving through the strait earlier this week, with the U.S. revoking a sanctions waiver on Iranian oil earlier Tuesday. Oil futures have risen sharply in response to the pressure.
The U.S. war with Iran began on Feb. 28, when the U.S. and Israel began strikes on the country that killed its leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly insisted that the goal of the war is to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, which is one of the subjects of negotiations under the MOU.
Trump is currently in Ankara, Turkey, for the NATO summit, meeting with leaders of the transatlantic alliance. Turkey shares a border with Iran.