Listen to the article
Iran has warned it will respond “proportionally” to further US military action, as Washington carried out fresh strikes against Iranian military targets and President Donald Trump threatened to widen the military campaign.
The latest developments come despite a US-Iran memorandum of understanding (MoU), agreed in June, which was intended to halt hostilities, restore freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and provide a framework for further negotiations. Tehran has accused Washington of repeatedly breaching the agreement, while the United States says its latest operations are targeting military capabilities used in attacks on commercial shipping.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Tehran would continue to implement the agreement provided the United States did the same.
Baghaei said: “The other side has violated its commitments and broken its promises from the outset of the memorandum of understanding, and the Islamic Republic will respond proportionately both in the field and in implementing its commitments.”
He added that Iran’s armed forces had repeatedly demonstrated that any action regarded as aggression would receive a reciprocal response.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said American forces carried out a 90-minute operation against Iranian coastal defence systems and cruise missile sites on Greater Tunb Island on Wednesday morning. The military said the targets had been used in attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
CENTCOM also said US forces launched a further round of strikes at 0600 ET on Wednesday against Iranian military capabilities associated with attacks on shipping in the waterway.
The US military said it resumed a naval blockade of vessels travelling to and from Iranian ports and coastal areas at 1600 ET on Tuesday. According to CENTCOM, more than 20 US Navy warships and hundreds of military aircraft are operating across the Middle East.
Iran’s army said a US strike on one of its barracks in the country’s south-east killed seven military personnel. It said it would respond.
President Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News, broadcast on Tuesday, that the United States would expand strikes to include Iranian power plants and bridges unless Tehran returned to negotiations. He warned that attacks would intensify next week.
The latest escalation prompted diplomatic responses from other countries. India and New Zealand summoned senior Iranian diplomats on Tuesday following attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, urging de-escalation and a return to diplomacy.
Separately, the Financial Times reported that US military personnel and contractors in the Middle East were targeted in a coordinated phone-tracking campaign before and during the conflict. The newspaper cited telecommunications data, cybersecurity experts and officials familiar with the matter.
In Tehran, Deputy Parliament Speaker Hamidreza Haji Babaei said Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s latest message focused on retaliation.
“We read his remarks in parliament without omitting or changing a single word, and pledged to carry them out,” Haji Babaei said.
Iranian state media reported that Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf is expected to issue a statement later on Wednesday addressing the conflict and recent developments.
