New Delhi: In another sign of escalation, the US military struck 10 targets in Iran on Saturday after US President Donald Trump claimed Tehran had violated the ceasefire. Central Command, in a post to social media, said that US military aircraft targeted Iranian military "surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defence sites, drone storage facilities, and minelayer capabilities" following an attack on a merchant vessel early on Saturday morning. It later specified that the strikes involved 10 Iranian military targets at multiple locations in and near the Strait of Hormuz. In response, Iran said it has attacked several US bases in the Middle East.

What led to fresh tension in Hormuz?

The ongoing strikes in the Persian Gulf show the danger of the Iran war again spinning out of control, even after Iran and the US reached an interim deal to try to agree on a final accord to end the conflict.

In a social media post, Trump said the US had "struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites, for violating the Cease Fire Agreement, AGAIN!" He warned of a point where the US may no longer be able to be reasonable, "and will be forced to militarily complete the job." "If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The incident follows a similar back-and-forth that occurred just days prior when an Iranian drone struck a merchant vessel off the coast of Oman on Thursday, and the US military retaliated with strikes the next day.

US says strikes were a response to Iranian attack on oil tanker

US Central Command said that in this latest attack, Iranian forces attacked the oil tanker Kiku with a one-way drone. The tanker was laden with more than two million barrels of crude oil and sailing through the Strait of Hormuz.

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According to ship tracking websites, the Kiku left a Qatari oil field in the middle of the Persian Gulf earlier in the week and was bound for a port in the United Arab Emirates that sits on the Gulf of Aman, just on the other side of the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran launches attacks against Bahrain, Kuwait

Iran has launched multiple missiles and drones toward neighbouring countries, including Bahrain and Kuwait, a US official told Reuters late on Saturday, in the latest escalation in the Middle East. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the situation was still unfolding but that there were no reported US casualties or major impacts or damage to US facilities in the Middle East at this time, the official said.

"New aggression will be met with a crushing response": Iran

Ibrahim al-Fiqar, Official military Spokesperson for Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, the operational command centre that coordinates the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the regular Iranian army, said that Iran will regulate maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.

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Fiqar, in a series of posts on X, said that violation of the ceasefire will be met with a crushing response. "Any new aggression, regardless of its pretext or the scale of its objectives, will be met with a crushing response. Violating the ceasefire constitutes a breach of Article 1 of the Islamabad Understanding and will lead to a complete halt of all tracks. Under the Islamabad understanding, Iran will regulate maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. Violent vessels will be dealt with more firmly than before."

(With inputs from agencies)

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