For the second consecutive night, the United States launched military strikes against Iran on Saturday, again citing an attack on a commercial ship as the trigger. The strikes targeted locations in southern Iran, including near the village of Tahrui and the port of Sirik, which was also struck on Friday. State media reported that Qeshm Island was hit as well.
The action was confirmed by US Central Command, according to Al Jazeera. CENTCOM said the strikes came "at the Commander in Chief's direction."
"CENTCOM forces launched strikes today in direct response to continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping," the command wrote in a statement. "U.S. military aircraft targeted Iranian military surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities, and minelayer capabilities."
The immediate cause was an early morning incident in the Strait of Hormuz. At around 4:30am Eastern time on Saturday, the Panama-flagged tanker Kiku was struck by what CENTCOM described as a "one-way attack drone." The ship had departed the Al Shaheen oilfield on Thursday and was headed to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. No crew members were injured and no cargo leakage was reported, though the vessel was carrying more than 2 million barrels of crude oil at the time.
A nearly identical sequence had triggered Friday's strikes. In that case, a Singapore-registered container ship called the Ever Lovely was struck by a drone while transiting the same waterway.
Saturday's strikes came as tensions continued to build around a ceasefire agreement reached on June 17. That memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran has been strained by repeated accusations from both sides of violations.
President Trump posted on social media less than two hours after the strikes began, warning that the situation could escalate further. "It is very possible that they will never learn," he wrote. "There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started. If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!"
Trump has accused Iran of repeatedly violating the ceasefire terms. Iran has made similar accusations against the United States.
