The US military unleashed a new wave of strikes against Iran on Tuesday and revoked a license allowing the country to sell oil after three tankers were hit by projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz, putting pressure on an already fragile ceasefire.After a day in which huge crowds mourned Iran's slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the holy city of Qom, US Central Command said it completed strikes that hit over 80 targets in an effort to impose what it called heavy costs. The military command said it struck more than 60 small boats of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to degrade Iran's ability to attack commercial shipping.
"The unwarranted aggression by Iranian forces is a clear and dangerous violation of the ceasefire and undermines freedom of navigation," CENTCOM said in a statement.
Iran's top joint military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, denounced the US strikes as a "blatant act of aggression," threatened a "crushing response," and warned that Tehran would not allow US interference in the management of the strait.
Iranian media reported explosions early Wednesday local time on Iran's main oil hub of Kharg Island, on Qeshm Island and in the southern port cities of Sirik and Bandar Abbas. No civilian deaths were reported, but several people were injured by shrapnel from an "enemy projectile" that hit a commercial pier in Sirik, according to an Iranian state TV reporter. The reports said strikes also hit fishing piers in Sirik and in Bandar Abbas, where several fishing boats were set ablaze.
