Iran said the United States had violated a ceasefire after the US conducted what it called defensive strikes in southern Iran, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that negotiating a deal to halt the conflict could “take a few days”.
Iran’s foreign ministry said US strikes in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, where Iranian media reported sounds of explosions early on Tuesday, represented a “gross violation” of a tenuous ceasefire in place for nearly seven weeks.
Both sides had indicated progress on a memorandum of understanding that could halt the war and restart shipping through the blockaded Strait of Hormuz, while giving negotiators 60 days to negotiate more complex issues including Iran’s nuclear programme.
Following strikes against targets that the US said included boats attempting to lay mines and missile launch sites, Rubio told reporters on his plane in India’s Jaipur that the Strait of Hormuz had to be open “one way or the other”.
The war, which began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, has caused an unprecedented oil supply shock, pushing up oil prices along with the costs of fuel, fertiliser and food. Iran responded to the strikes by launching drones and missiles at Gulf states that host US bases.
Only a few dozen vessels have been passing through the Strait of Hormuz compared with 125 to 140 daily previously. About a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas usually flows through the waterway.
Global benchmark Brent crude oil rose almost three per cent on Tuesday to $98.91 following news of the US strikes.
Despite a ceasefire in place since early April, US Central Command said on Monday it had carried out fresh strikes designed “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday they reserved the right to retaliate. They said air defence units had downed a U.S. drone and fired at another drone and a fighter jet which they said had entered Iranian airspace over the Gulf region.
In comments posted on his Telegram channel on the occasion of the annual hajj pilgrimage, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said: “The clock cannot be turned back, and the nations and lands of the region will no longer be a shield for American bases.” (Reuters)
