The US continues military operations in Iran despite the Islamabad Accords. For the seventh night in a row, US forces have carried out airstrikes in the country. The United States military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed this information in a message early Friday Bangladesh time.
In a message published on social media X, CENTCOM said, “CENTCOM has been conducting operations in Iran for seven consecutive nights. Our operations continue to weaken Iran’s military capabilities as directed by the Commander in Chief of the US Armed Forces (President Donald Trump).”
Meanwhile, Iran called on the United States to immediately stop the airstrikes. Iranian officials have warned that the country will be forced into a ‘full-scale war’ if the attacks continue.
Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed that two foreign oil tankers were damaged by an Iranian mine explosion in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday. However, Centcom dismissed the claim as ‘baseless’.
According to French news agency AFP, at least three people were killed and eight others wounded in Friday’s US strike in Iran’s southern Hormuzgan province. At the same time, the US Air Force bombarded various areas of the province, the deputy governor of political, security and social affairs of Hormuzgan told Iran’s state media IRNA.
In an immediate message after Friday night’s attack, Iran’s supreme leader’s military adviser, Major General Mohsen Rezaei, said, “If the United States continues such attacks, Iran will not limit itself to counterattacks; it will go to full-scale war, and in that case no political border (in the Middle East Gulf region) will be protected.”
Tensions between Tehran and Washington rose again after Iran’s Defense Forces drone strike targeted two Emirati commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz on July 5, in violation of the terms of the Islamabad Accord. After 2 days of that attack, President Trump said during an exchange of views with journalists in Ankara, the capital of Turkey on July 8, that the US ceasefire with Iran has ended.
The US president said, “Our ceasefire with Iran is over. Recently, they have attacked commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, which is a clear violation of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding. The leaders of the ruling government in Iran are sick and depraved. I think it is nothing but a waste of time to negotiate a peace deal with them after the attack on the commercial ships in Hormuz.”
CENTCOM has been conducting military operations in Iran every night since the night of July 11 after Trump made this speech.
TimesBD/ rabbi
