After the United States launched multiple airstrikes against 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. A citizen holds an Iranian flag at the funeral of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. [Reuters]
After the United States launched multiple airstrikes against 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. A citizen holds an Iranian flag at the funeral of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. [Reuters]

Iran's government condemned US airstrikes and the reimposition of oil sanctions as an effective repudiation of the ceasefire memorandum of understanding between the two countries, vowing to respond decisively.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Wednesday on social media platform X that the memorandum between Iran and the United States "was drafted from the outset not on the basis of mutual trust, but on a clear mechanism of obligation for obligation."

"The other party, the United States, never demonstrated good faith from the outset," Baghaei said. He added that Article 5 of the memorandum required Iran to guarantee the safety of vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz — a provision Washington had acted against.

"The United States has violated the entire framework of the agreement through the unilateral reimposition of oil sanctions and military attacks," he said.

Baghaei quoted a Quranic verse — "If you fear betrayal, dissolve the treaty on equal terms" — and said Iran "will act resolutely and unwaveringly to protect its national interests and sovereignty."

The US military earlier identified Iran as responsible for attacks on three merchant vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and said it had conducted precision strikes on more than 80 military targets inside Iran, including air defense networks, command-and-control facilities, coastal radar stations, anti-ship missile assets and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) small boats.

Washington also revoked a 60-day general license issued June 21 that temporarily permitted the production, delivery and sale of Iranian crude oil, reinstating oil sanctions.

Iran immediately struck back, saying the United States had broken the ceasefire agreement first. The IRGC claimed Wednesday to have attacked 85 US military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait using missiles and drones.


sjy@heraldcorp.com