Middle East Us Iran Hormuz Strikes Attack Donald Trump

The United States military struck Iranian targets on Friday after Iran fired drones at commercial ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz the day before, in what President Donald Trump called a direct breach of their ceasefire agreement.

Officials told CNN and the New York Times the operation lasted roughly 90 minutes and covered four sites three along the coast and one on Qeshm island in the Persian Gulf, carried out by F-35s and F-16s.

United States Central Command, which directs US military forces in the Middle East, said US forces “conducted strikes against Iran, June 26, as a powerful response to yesterday’s attack on a commercial ship that was transiting the Strait of Hormuz”.

The Pentagon statement posted on social media continued: US aircraft struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites after Iran hit M/V Ever Lovely on June 25 with a one-way attack drone. The Singapore-flagged cargo ship was exiting the Strait of Hormuz along the Omani coast at the time of Iran’s attack.

The unwarranted aggression against commercial shipping by Iranian forces clearly violated the ceasefire.

Trump said on Truth Social that Iran fired at least four one-way attack drones at ships in the strait. One hit the upper deck of a large cargo ship, while the US knocked down the other three.

The ship that was struck was the M/V Ever Lovely, a Singapore-flagged vessel exiting the strait along the Omani coast. Its owner, Evergreen Marine, said the attack damaged the bridge windows but no one was hurt and the cargo was safe. The main engine and all navigation equipment kept working, and the ship’s ability to sail was not affected.

When reporters asked Trump at the White House whether Iran would face any consequences, he gave a short answer: “You’ll find out.”

“I don’t like the fact that they took a shot yesterday,” he said. “They shouldn’t be doing that.”

Earlier that morning on Truth Social, Trump had been sharper: “Obviously, this is a foolish violation of our Ceasefire Agreement,” he wrote.

The US and Iran agreed on June 17 to stop hostilities under a 14-point memorandum of understanding, which also called on Iran to use its best efforts to allow commercial vessels to pass through the strait without charge for 60 days.

US Central Command said Friday the drone attack on the Ever Lovely “clearly violated the ceasefire” and that Iran’s actions “undermined freedom of navigation” in a waterway that carries a large share of the world’s oil and gas.

Even before Thursday’s attack, the ceasefire was under strain over the question of shipping fees. An Iranian member of the country’s negotiating team, Hossein Ghorbanzadeh, said Iran would resume collecting fees from vessels after the 60-day pause expires, adding that the temporary halt was accepted “so that the agreement could be reached”, as reported by Fox News.

Trump had said on Wednesday that Iran told him there would be “no tolls, no insurance costs and no other charges of any kind,” warning that if that information turned out to be false, negotiations would end immediately.

Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, added to the tension by saying publicly that “the administration of the Strait of Hormuz will never go back to the way it was before the war.”

Vice-President JD Vance addressed Tehran directly in a post on X after the US struck: “If Iran has disagreements about how the MOU is being applied, they can pick up the phone. But violence will be met with violence.”

The UN’s International Maritime Organization paused a planned evacuation of more than 11,000 sailors stranded in the shipping lane since the war began.

Iran’s parliament also pushed back. Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament’s national security commission, wrote on X that “the US attacked Iran in the middle of negotiations once again,” adding: “The failed US president has shown he has no commitment to the principles of negotiation or a ceasefire.”

The US military said it would keep helping commercial ships move safely through the strait, adding that its forces remain “present and vigilant throughout the region.”

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