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The U.S. military struck Iranian missile and drone sites on Friday night in retaliation for an Iranian attack on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz a day earlier, jolting the fragile cease-fire between the countries.
Hours before the U.S. strikes, President Trump called the Iranian action a “foolish violation” of the cease-fire agreement, which had aimed to end a war that had roiled world markets, reignited the conflict between Israel and Iran’s ally Hezbollah, and shaken the broader Middle East. The preliminary deal left the future of the strait unresolved, with U.S. officials declaring the critical waterway would once again be a free point of transit and Iran asserting its control there.
The U.S. strikes on Friday targeting Iranian missile and drone targets concluded after about 90 minutes, a U.S. official said, and included strikes by American fighter jets against four Iranian sites along the Strait of Hormuz and on Qeshm Island, the official said.
The cease-fire agreement between the countries was signed just 11 days ago and has led to the start of new negotiations over the strait, Iran’s nuclear program and other issues. Before the United States and Iran reached the preliminary deal, their forces would sometimes launch limited strikes but hold back from renewing all-out combat operations.
The latest U.S. strikes on Friday targeted Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites, U.S. Central Command said in a statement, calling it a “powerful response” to the Iranian attack on Thursday. The extent of damage from the new U.S. strikes was not immediately clear.
Mr. Trump said earlier on social media that Iran launched at least four one-way-attack drones on Thursday, one of which hit the upper deck “of a large and very expensive Cargo Carrying Ship,” adding that the United States had knocked down three other drones. He added that the ship, though damaged, was able to continue on its way.
Iran’s strike on the vessel, the Ever Lovely, a container ship that was passing near the Omani side of the strait, appeared to be the first known Iranian attack on a commercial vessel since the signing of a preliminary peace agreement between Tehran and Washington last week. It laid bare the challenges to restoring prewar levels of traffic through the strait, a crucial conduit for oil and gas shipping.
The attack prompted the International Maritime Organization, a U.N. agency, to suspend an effort to help hundreds of stranded vessels leave the Persian Gulf. At least two tankers turned around after Iran’s warning earlier that day, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence, while the number of ships passing through the strait fell to 54 on Thursday from 73 a day earlier, according to Kpler, a maritime data firm.
