After a break of 5 consecutive days, the US forces have started military operations in Iran again. The operation started around 8:00 PM EST (6:00 AM local time in Bangladesh).
“Today’s operation was launched in response to Iran’s attack on US forces in the Middle East the previous day (Wednesday),” said a message from CENTCOM, the US Defense Forces’ Central Command, after the attack.
British maritime security agency AMBRE officials told Reuters that an Iranian drone struck a US-owned gas tanker in Damietta, Egypt’s Mediterranean port, early Wednesday morning Bangladesh time. The port caught fire. At the time, the US and Saudi forces were conducting a joint air campaign targeting pro-Iranian military groups in eastern Iraq.
The IRGC, the elite wing of Iran’s defense forces, was firing drones and missiles at US bases in Jordan around the time of the drone attack on a US tanker in an Egyptian port.
In a statement yesterday, Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum Affairs acknowledged the fire at Damietta port, but did not mention any information about the drone attack in the ministry’s statement.
Meanwhile, during a press conference at the White House in Washington a few hours before US forces in Iran, President Donald Trump said, “Iran has attacked our military base in Jordan. Now it’s our turn. Our response will be very tough.”
But he also said Washington would continue to try to broker a peace deal with Tehran.
After the signing of the Islamabad Agreement on June 17, the cease-fire was going on between the United States and Iran; But then in the first week of July, Iran launched a drone attack on two Emirati tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, and CENTCOM launched a counterattack in response to that attack. After 13 consecutive days of counter-attacks, the US and Iran were observing a ‘break’ from July 25.
Meanwhile, in a statement on Wednesday night, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or IRGC, the elite wing of Iran’s defense forces, acknowledged the attack on the US base in Jordan and commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Source: Reuters
Times BD/ Humaira
