US hits more than 80 targets in strikes on Iran
The United States has launched a brutal assault on Iran with a US official anonymously revealing its targets.
Source: US Central Command
The US says it has hit more than 80 targets – including air defence systems, coastal surveillance systems, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship cruise missiles and drone launch sites – as it launched a fresh series of “powerful strikes” against Iran.
The latest strikes, which began on Tuesday local time, were reportedly in retaliation for attacks on commercial tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed the targets to Reuters after the US military announced it had unleashed the new wave of strikes against Iran and revoked a licence allowing the country to sell oil after three tankers were hit in the Strait of Hormuz, putting pressure on an already fragile ceasefire.
After a day in which huge crowds mourned Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the holy city of Qom, US Central Command announced on Tuesday it had begun strikes intended to impose heavy costs.
“Iran’s demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire,” it wrote on X.
Iranian media reported explosions early on Wednesday on Iran’s main oil hub of Kharg Island, from which Iran exports 90 per cent of its crude oil, and in the southern port cities of Sirik and Bandar Abbas.
Several people were injured by shrapnel from an “enemy projectile” that hit a commercial pier in Sirik, according to an Iranian state TV reporter.
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The reports said strikes also hit fishing piers in Sirik and in Bandar Abbas, where fishing boats were set ablaze.
With the ceasefire between the two countries on increasingly shaky ground, Iran warned early on Wednesday that it would deliver a “crushing response” to the US strikes.
Later, sirens have sounded in Bahrain, where the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet is headquartered. The country’s Interior Ministry posted on social media that people should “remain calm and head to the nearest safe place”.
Iran has repeatedly attacked US military bases across the Middle East, including in Bahrain, throughout the war.
The incidents are only the latest to threaten the fragile ceasefire struck last month, pausing the conflict that started in February with US and Israeli strikes across the Islamic Republic.
In a major blow to that agreement, Washington also withdrew a key concession that had allowed Iran to sell oil on international markets.
Oil prices rose more than three per cent after the US said it was pulling the oil sales licence.
Control of the strait has given Tehran immense leverage, effectively allowing it to force a stalemate with the world’s most powerful military.
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Analysts say Tehran uses attacks on ships to underscore that leverage as it negotiates a long-term peace deal with the US under last month’s interim US-Iran agreement.
On June 22, the US Treasury issued a general licence to allow the sale of crude oil and petrochemical and petroleum products of Iranian origin until August 21. The US has now given Iran until July 17 to wind down any transactions.
Qatar blamed Iran for attacking the vessels, including its huge liquefied natural gas tanker, the Al Rekayyat, which reported being struck overnight by a drone that caused a fire in its engine room. The crew were safe and being evacuated.
A Saudi-flagged crude oil tanker, believed to be the supertanker Wedyan, was also damaged off Oman, maritime security sources said.
Iran’s foreign ministry said commercial vessels faced risks for using routes not co-ordinated through Tehran.
Iran’s clerical rulers aim to install a permanent system to collect fees in what would amount to a huge shift of the balance of power in a region.
Mourners at the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to avenge the death of their slain leader. Photo: AAP
Iran has used the mourning for late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to show its control.
The caskets of the slain leader and family were driven through the streets of the seminary city of Qom on Tuesday, where hundreds of thousands of people carried flags and banners comparing Khamenei to revered Shi’ite martyrs.
In chants they vowed to avenge Khamenei. Some bore placards and banners reading “KILL TRUMP”.
The war has been paused under the interim peace deal reached last month, intended to provide a 60-day period for negotiations on a permanent deal.
A round of indirect talks in Qatar ended last week with no sign of headway towards a lasting peace.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to resume bombing, most recently on Monday when he said from the Oval Office: “We’re either going to make a deal or we’re going to finish the job….. We can knock down their bridges in one hour, we can knock out their energy supply”.
-with AAP
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