Tehran (QNN)- Iran has confirmed that the US violated the ceasefire on Thursday by carrying out air strikes on civilian areas. The Iranian military said it retaliated against US Navy ships after US forces targeted an oil tanker in Iran’s territorial waters.
A spokesman for the Khatam al-Anbiya military headquarters said the US targeted an Iranian oil tanker moving from Iranian coastal waters near Jask towards the Strait of Hormuz, as well as another Iranian vessel near the UAE’s Fujairah port.
The spokesman also said the US carried out air strikes on civilian areas in Bandar Khamir, Sirik and Qeshm Island in southern Iran with the cooperation of “some regional countries”.
The statement was issued shortly after sustained air defence fire was heard in western Tehran following two loud blasts, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.
IRNA reported that anti-aircraft fire continued for several minutes in areas near Tehran’s District 22 and Ahmadabad Mostofi in the western part of the capital.
“The American aggressor, terrorist and bandit army, violating the ceasefire, targeted an Iranian oil tanker,” Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said in a statement.
“The criminal and aggressor America and its supporting countries should know that the Islamic Republic of Iran, as powerfully as in the past, will give a crushing response to any aggression without the slightest hesitation,” the Iranian military said.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said Iranian forces used “various types of ballistic and antiship cruise missiles and destructive drones with high-explosive warheads” in response to the US violations of the truce.
The Central Command (CENTCOM) of the US military claimed it had “eliminated inbound threats and targeted Iranian military facilities responsible for attacking US forces, including missile and drone launch sites; command and control locations; and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance nodes”.
It added Iran had launched multiple missiles, drones and small boats as three US Navy destroyers transited the Strait of Hormuz.
CENTCOM said American forces intercepted “unprovoked Iranian attacks” and responded with “self-defense strikes” as US Navy guided-missile destroyers transited the Strait of Hormuz towards the Gulf of Oman on May 7.
According to a CENTCOM statement, Iranian forces launched a coordinated assault involving “multiple missiles, drones and small boats” while the USS Truxtun (DDG 103), USS Rafael Peralta (DDG 115), and USS Mason (DDG 87) were navigating the international sea passage. Officials confirmed that “no US assets were struck” during the engagement.
These attacks hit several key targets, including missile and drone launch sites, command and control locations, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance nodes, it said.
Iran’s military “also immediately and in retaliation attacked American military vessels east of the Strait of Hormuz and south of Chabahar port, causing significant damage to them”, the statement of the Iranian military read.
This represents the first military Iranian response to the US blockade of the country’s ports. Over the past weeks, the US military has seized several Iranian vessels and ordered dozens more to turn around.
Several Iranian state-affiliated news outlets reported that blasts were heard at the ports of Qeshm Island, Bandar Abbas and the southern coastal city of Minab.
Iran’s semiofficial news agency Tasnim also cited a senior source as saying that three US Navy destroyers came under Iranian fire and fled towards the Gulf of Oman.
Trump later insisted that the ceasefire remained intact despite the strikes, which he described in an interview with ABC News as a “love tap”.
“They trifled with us today,” Trump told reporters, during an evening visit to the Reflecting Pool in Washington DC. “We blew them away. They trifled. I call that a trifle.” Asked where this left hopes of a negotiated end to the conflict, Trump said a deal “might not happen, but it could happen any day”.
“I believe they want the deal more than I do,” the US president claimed.
The renewed attack on Thursday came a few hours after officials in Pakistan said both countries were close to a temporary agreement to halt the assault.
