Renewed fighting has broken out in the Gulf region between the US and Iran.
US Central Command (Centcom) said on Tuesday it had launched “powerful” strikes in response to attacks on three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, hitting more than 80 targets.
Iran has not directly claimed responsibility for the attacks on the tankers. On Wednesday, it said it had targeted US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait in retaliation to the US attacks.
Nato chief Mark Rutte said the American strikes on Iran were “absolutely necessary”, speaking as the military alliance began a summit in Ankara, Turkey.
“I think it was absolutely necessary,” Rutte said, arguing that Iran was “basically violating the ceasefire” given what “happened yesterday with ships being attacked”.
“I think it is totally crucial that the US forcefully [reacts].”
Iran’s speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf accused the US of breaching the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by “violating Iranian adjustments in the Strait”, “persistent threats of further strikes”, “reinstating oil sanctions” and “attacks on southern Iran”.
“The era of bullying and extortion is over. It leads nowhere. We don’t fold,” he said.
The US strikes hit Qeshm island, Bandar Abbas and Sirik, Iranian state media reported, where people have been injured by shrapnel.
Missiles and drones were launched at “85 key US military facilities” in the two countries, including a US Navy headquarters and an air base in Kuwait, the IRGC said.
Kuwait has also responded to the Iranian strikes on its country, lambasting the “repeated attacks”.
Earlier on Tuesday, Iran’s deputy foreign minister described the US attacks as a violation of the US-Iran memorandum signed last month, and warned Tehran would “take decisive measures”.
The US had said there would be consequences to what it has called the “wholly unacceptable” attacks on the three tankers.
Centcom said in addition to the 60 small boats, it had struck Iranian missile launch sites and command centres. It did not give locations of its targets.
It said the strikes were “to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent individuals in an international waterway”.
Before the strikes, the US Treasury revoked a waiver that had temporarily lifted oil sanctions on Iran, and was part of the memorandum of understanding signed by Washington and Tehran last month.
Iran’s foreign ministry called the move a breach of the memorandum and said it proved the “bad faith, inconsistency, and unreliability” of the US government.
It added that Tehran “will take whatever measures it considers necessary to safeguard its national interests and national security”.
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