United States forces concluded a two-day military operation on Wednesday morning after carrying out more than 80 precision strikes against targets in Iran, in what the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said was retaliation for recent Iranian attacks on commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
According to CENTCOM, the operation followed attacks on three commercial vessels transiting the strategic waterway earlier this week, the Marshall Islands-flagged M/T Al Rekayyat, the Saudi Arabia-flagged M/T Wedyan and the Liberian-flagged M/T Cyprus Prosperity.
The strikes, which began on Tuesday, targeted Iranian air defence systems, command and control networks, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile capabilities and more than 60 small boats belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Iranian media have reported multiple explosions in the southern port city of Sirik, on Qeshm Island and in areas near Bandar Abbas.
“US forces struck to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking international commerce flowing through the international trade corridor,” CENTCOM said in a statement on X on Wednesday.
“The unwarranted aggression by Iranian forces is a clear and dangerous violation of the ceasefire and undermines freedom of navigation.”
Further, CENTCOM described Tehran’s alleged attacks as an "unwarranted" violation of a ceasefire agreement reached in June and said they threatened freedom of navigation through one of the world's busiest maritime trade corridors.
"CENTCOM forces remain postured and prepared to hold Iran accountable when the agreement is not adhered to or obeyed," the command said.
Following the attacks, Tehran retaliated by targeting US military installations in Kuwait and Bahrain. Kuwait’s Foreign Affairs Ministry subsequently condemned the attacks in a statement on X, describing them as a flagrant violation of its sovereignty.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses the State of Kuwait's condemnation and strongest denunciation of the repeated heinous Iranian aggressions against the State of Kuwait, the latest of which occurred this morning, in flagrant violation of its sovereignty, a direct threat to its security and stability, and to the safety of its citizens and residents on its territory,” it said.
The attacks come amid a fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran following a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in June that was intended to end months of hostilities.
Under the agreement, the United States was to lift its naval blockade on Iran in exchange for Tehran reopening the Strait of Hormuz, while Washington also agreed to temporarily ease sanctions on Iranian oil.
However, the US Treasury Department on Tuesday revoked the temporary sanctions waiver, cancelling a licence that had allowed Iran to produce, sell and export crude oil through August 21, a move that has further strained the agreement.
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