A citizen holds an Iranian flag at the funeral of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. After the US launched multiple airstrikes on Iran beginning Tuesday over alleged attacks on merchant vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran condemned the strikes as a violation of a ceasefire memorandum of understanding and vowed a firm response. [Reuters]
A citizen holds an Iranian flag at the funeral of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. After the US launched multiple airstrikes on Iran beginning Tuesday over alleged attacks on merchant vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran condemned the strikes as a violation of a ceasefire memorandum of understanding and vowed a firm response. [Reuters]

Iran vowed a resolute response after the United States launched multiple airstrikes against it, citing Iranian attacks on merchant vessels attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran condemned the strikes as a wholesale violation of a ceasefire memorandum of understanding.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Wednesday on X that the MOU between Iran and the United States "was not based on mutual trust from the outset" and had been drafted strictly on a "commitment-for-commitment" basis because there had been "no sign of goodwill" from Washington. He argued that Article 5 of the MOU explicitly assigned Iran responsibility for ensuring the safe passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, yet the US had acted against that provision — violating "the entire framework of the agreement" through unilateral measures, including the reimposition of oil sanctions, and hostile military strikes.

Baghaei cited a Quranic verse — "If you fear treachery from a people, dissolve your treaty with them on equal terms" — and said Iran "will move forward resolutely and unwaveringly in protecting its national interests and exercising its sovereignty."

The strikes followed attacks on three merchant vessels in the Strait of Hormuz — two oil tankers and one liquefied natural gas carrier — after which Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other countries on Tuesday strongly protested, pointing to Iran as the party responsible. The US began striking more than 80 targets inside Iran on Tuesday, including air defense networks, command-and-control facilities, coastal radar stations, anti-ship missile batteries and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fast boats, on the grounds that Iran had broken its MOU commitment to reopen the strait.

The IRGC retaliated by striking 85 US military installations in Bahrain and Kuwait. US airstrikes continued through Wednesday.

Washington also revoked a 60-day temporary general license it had issued on June 21 to permit the sale of Iranian crude oil, effectively canceling all sanctions waivers on Iranian oil and petroleum products.


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