Dubai: US military attacked Iran early Wednesday after it said Tehran struck three ships in the Strait of Hormuz, part of an American effort that also revoked the Islamic Republic’s ability to openly sell crude oil in the world market. Iran retaliated with strikes targeting Bahrain and Kuwait.
The regional crossfire raised the risks that an interim agreement to halt fighting in the war could break down, putting the Middle East again at risk of a wider conflict. However, the fire followed a pattern of similar attacks during the deal’s shaky ceasefire, and neither country immediately signalled they’d leave the negotiating table.
The attacks on shipping and the resulting strikes came during the dayslong funeral for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed Febuary 28 in the war’s first moments at age 86. The funeral, which ends Thursday, had been thought to be a period of lower tensions — though mourners have repeatedly called for the killings of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Negotiations to reach a final deal had been due to start after Khamenei’s burial and focus on the toughest matters, including fully reopening the strait and rolling back Tehran’s disputed nuclear program. But the new attacks threw that into question.
“The era of bullying and extortion is over,” Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X. “It leads nowhere. We don’t fold.”
Overnight US strikes target Iran
The US military’s Central Command said American forces launched the strikes “to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway.”
It said it hit Iranian targets including air defence systems, radars and over 60 small boats used by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. Those boats have been key in harassing ships in the strait.
The US military remains “postured and prepared to hold Iran accountable when the agreement is not adhered to or obeyed,” it added, saying this round of attacks had ended.
Iran acknowledged the strikes, but gave no word on any losses. Iranian state media reported explosions in Bandar Abbas, Qeshm and Sirik. State media later reported about an attack on Bandar Mahshahr killing one Guard member, as well as attacks on Bushehr.
Wednesday morning, both Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, and Kuwait, home to US Army forces, sounded missile alerts. The Guard issued a statement acknowledging targeting US military installations in both countries.
“The child-killing and terrorist US army … openly violated the ceasefire and violated the Islamabad understanding by launching an airstrike on a number of coastal bases and civilian stations on the coasts of Hormozgan and Mahshahr provinces,” it said, without addressing the attacks on ships.
Bahrain sounded its alert sirens a second and third time later Wednesday morning.
A similar spate of Iranian attacks on shipping and US retaliatory strikes occurred late last month — which similarly drew Iranian attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait. Wednesday’s strikes also came as Trump was in Turkey for a summit of the NATO military alliance.
Anwar Gargash, a senior diplomat in the United Arab Emirates, called Iran’s attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait “a clear indicator that Tehran remains incapable of committing to the requirements of de-escalation and turning the page on war.”
“The Gulf Arab states cannot remain a target for Iran’s wavering between the logic of escalation and the path of rationality, stability and peace,” he wrote.
US revokes license for the sale of Iranian oil
The US also revoked a license that authorised the sale of Iranian oil as part of the interim deal. That had allowed Iran for the first time in years to conduct oil sales openly for US dollars. Iran long had been suspected of selling sanctioned crude oil at below-market prices to China.
The decision came after the strikes on shipping. One tanker was travelling off the coast of Oman when it was hit and caught fire, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said. Iranian state television said the liquefied natural gas tanker came under attack after ignoring warnings but did not directly claim the assault.
The other two ships sustained some damage, but no one was injured, and both continued on their way in the Strait of Hormuz, the UK agency said. Iran has maintained a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz since the war, disrupting global energy markets. The ships attacked Tuesday all appeared to be using a route close to Oman’s shore, rather than one ordered by Tehran.
Tehran repeatedly has declared that only its approved route through the strait is safe and is suspected of attacking other ships that have used the Oman route.
Majed al-Ansari, a spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, said the Qatari tanker Al Rekayyat was targeted in an “unacceptable attack” on international navigation and global energy security. He said Qatar, which has been a key mediator alongside Pakistan in the talks, holds Iran “fully legally responsible.”
Iran and the United States agreed as part of the interim deal to allow ships to pass without paying charges for 60 days. But Tehran insisted it must control the vessels’ routes and later charge fees for passage, which would upend decades of practice in the waterway.
The US and many Gulf Arab states say they will not agree to Iran charging for passage through the strait.
Mourners attend Khamenei funeral services in Iraq
Funeral ceremonies for Khamenei were held Wednesday in the Iraqi city of Najaf. There will be funeral prayers later at the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala as well.
Khamenei’s son, Iran’s new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has yet to make an appearance at the ceremonies, which began Saturday in Tehran. He is believed to be in hiding after reportedly being wounded in the airstrike that killed his father.
Khamenei will then be returned to Iran to be buried Thursday at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, his birthplace.
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