Source: US Navy
The fragile truce signed by the U.S. and Iran last month showed further signs of unravelling as the latest round of fighting continued. The interim agreement was intended to reopen the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz and end the conflict which began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.
U.S. Central Command said the attacks, which ended at 9:30pm U.S. Eastern Time on Friday, struck “military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities”.
“CENTCOM continues to hold Iran accountable at the Commander in Chief’s direction while fully enforcing a naval blockade against Iranian ports,” it said in a post on X.
The military also said its forces intercepted several shipping vessels in recent days.
“During the first three days of renewed implementation, U.S. forces have redirected 4 commercial vessels, disabled 1, and boarded 1 to ensure full compliance,” Central Command said in a separate statement.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it blocked four vessels early Saturday as they attempted to move under U.S. protection through the Strait of Hormuz.
“In a coordinated missile and drone operation, all four were halted and immobilized at sea,” Iran’s IRNA News Agency quoted the IRGC Navy Command as saying in a post on X.
Iran also appeared to continue its attacks on regional targets.
Kuwait said its air defenses were “responding to hostile drone threats”.
It also said an Iranian attack on its power and water distillation station caused a fire but no casualties, according to an X post by the Kuwait News Agency. It was the second attack on Kuwait’s water facilities in two days.
Kuwait is known to be overwhelmingly dependent on desalination for drinking water, with almost 90% of the arid nation’s water demand satisfied through seawater desalination plants.
Kuwait Airways said it rescheduled most of its flights, blaming “hostile missile and drone attacks following the Iranian aggression”.
Neighboring Bahrain’s government said early Saturday that its air defense systems intercepted several Iranian projectiles and sounded sirens to warn residents.
On Friday, Iran claimed it had targeted U.S. military forces in Syria and Bahrain.
‘Winning big in Iran’
U.S. President Donald Trump has insisted the war with Iran is going well, saying Thursday in a primetime address to the American public: “We are likewise winning big in Iran, and you will see the fruits of that labor very, very shortly.”
The U.S. president had threatened to strike Iran’s bridges and power plants next week if the country refused to return to the negotiating table.
Ian Lesser, distinguished fellow at GMF, a Washington-based think tank, said there appears to be a risk of the U.S. and Iran becoming mired in a so-called forever war.
“There’s a risk of this, but of course we were in essentially a cold and occasionally hot war with Iran for decades,” Lesser told CNBC by video call.
“I think in some sense this is misjudgment by the current administration. But it is also part of a pattern in the American approach to the use of force, that we have enormous capability and enormous operational prowess and we are hobbled by strategic mistakes,” he added.
Oil prices were sharply higher on Friday due to the ongoing unrest in the Middle East.
International benchmark Brent crude futures with September delivery advanced 4.6% to $88.10 a barrel on Friday, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures with August delivery gained 4.5% to settle at $82.49. Both were at their highest since mid-June.
For the week, both benchmarks gained about 16%, with Brent ​on track for a third consecutive weekly gain and WTI set for its second.
– Reuters contributed to this report.
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