US strikes Iran in response to attack on cargo ship in Strait of Hormuz

DUBAI/LONDON - The US military attacked Iran on June 26 in response to an Iranian drone strike on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, further straining the fragile peace deal agreed last week between the two countries.

US Central Command said aircraft struck missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites. CNN, citing an unnamed US official, reported the US operation had concluded.

Iranian media said a projectile struck the area around a pier in Sirik in southern Iran.

Elsewhere there were signs of progress, however, as Israel and Lebanon signed an agreement to end the fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Both sides framed the deal as an initial step that calls for Hezbollah to disarm and Israel to withdraw troops from Lebanon, but it was not clear how it would be enforced. Hezbollah said it would not cooperate.

Tehran has said it would control the Strait of Hormuz and warned Gulf states not to side with Washington after the June 25 attack on a cargo ship travelling near Oman’s coast.

US President Donald Trump blamed the attack on Iran and said it violated last week’s agreement.

Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine said earlier on June 26 its Singapore-flagged ship Ever Lovely had been hit close to Oman on June 25 by an “unknown object” while on a route recommended by the British navy agency UKMTO.

Nobody was hurt and the ship resumed its journey out of the strait.

Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine said its Singapore-flagged ship Ever Lovely had been hit close to Oman on June 25 by an “unknown object”. PHOTO: VESSELFINDER.COM

“The unwarranted aggression against commercial shipping by Iranian forces clearly violated the ceasefire,” US Central Command said in its statement announcing the strikes, which it called “a powerful response to yesterday’s attack on a commercial ship that was transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”

The US military said it would continue to provide “safe passage coordination and support” to commercial vessels transiting the strait.

Iranian state media, citing an unnamed military source, reported the strike at the port of Sirik after an explosion was heard there.

The source said several warning shots had been fired from Sirik towards vessels that violated Strait of Hormuz regulations about five hours earlier, adding that two warning missiles had also been launched from the nearby Karpan area towards the strategic waterway.

Iran had previously expressed anger at what it said was an “interventionist, irresponsible and provocative” statement by the United States and six Gulf states that rejected its assertion that it could charge tolls on vessels transiting the strait.

“Safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz cannot be guaranteed under ambiguous arrangements, parallel routes or decision-making that does not take Iran‘s role as a coastal state into account,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on X.

Bloomberg News said Oman, which lies on the opposite side of the strait from Iran, had told allies ships going through Hormuz may have to pay. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.

Iranian state TV said three foreign tankers attempting what it called an “unauthorised passage” of the strait were turned back after a warning from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It gave no further details.

A US official said Washington is looking into the reports.

Before the renewed outbreak of violence, oil prices dropped by about 3 per cent on June 26, on course for steep weekly losses, in response to oil tankers exiting the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies typically passes.

Saudi Aramco resumed crude loadings at its Ras Tanura terminal in the Gulf, the world’s biggest oil port, after a nearly four-month halt, shipping data showed.

Fertiliser shipments through the strait have also picked up, helping to assuage concerns about a spike in global food prices.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio - wrapping up a tour of the Gulf to reassure regional allies about the interim pact - issued a joint statement with the Gulf Cooperation Council calling for “free, unconditional, and unrestricted navigation” in the strait without tolls or “attempts to assert control”.

Iran‘s foreign ministry said the strait should be governed by Iran and Oman, while Ali Akbar Velayati, top adviser to Iran‘s supreme leader, warned Washington’s Gulf allies their survival depended on Tehran’s tolerance. REUTERS