US strikes southern Iran, Tehran claims attacks on US military sites

US strikes southern Iran, Tehran claims counterattacks on military sites.

The United States and Iran have exchanged attacks after the US military said Iran struck ships in the Strait of Hormuz, threatening a fragile ceasefire between Tehran and Washington.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said its strikes on Iran began on Tuesday and were conducted 'in response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz'. CENTCOM said it hit 'over 80 targets with precision munitions' before concluding the strikes approximately four hours after they had begun.

Iranian military leaders pledged a 'crushing response' to the attack. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) later said it targeted 85 US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait in response to the attacks.

The flare-up comes as US President Donald Trump is in Turkiye attending this year's NATO summit. It risks derailing last month's agreement between the US and Iran to extend their ceasefire and enter into talks on ending the war, although neither country has immediately signalled they plan to abandon negotiations.

On Wednesday morning, NATO chief Mark Rutte called the US's latest attacks on Iran 'absolutely necessary', arguing it had to 'forcefully react' to what amounted to Iran breaching the ceasefire agreement.

Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs held Washington responsible for the consequences of breaching the MoU agreed between the two countries in June, which extended an April ceasefire and launched talks aimed at ending the US-Israel war on Iran, which began in late February.

The move by the Treasury Department comes after tankers in the Strait of Hormuz were attacked. A Qatari tanker caught fire off the coast of Oman on Monday after being struck by an 'unknown projectile', according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO). Iranian TV reports said the liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker came under attack after ignoring warnings, but Tehran did not directly claim the assault. Neither CENTCOM nor the IRGC commented on the incident. A second ship, a Saudi-flagged crude oil tanker, was also damaged in the Strait of Hormuz when the IRGC fired missiles, sources told Reuters.