The Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that the US committed a “flagrant violation” of the ceasefire between the US and Iran, a statement that came a day after the US military said that it launched strikes against targets in southern Iran.
The statement said that the US committed ceasefire violations over the past 48 hours in Iran’s Hormozgan province. US Central Command said that it struck Iranian missile launch sites in southern Iran after Iranian media reported explosions in Bandar Abbas, a port city on the Strait of Hormuz in Hormozgan.
The Iranian ministry said that it “strongly condemns” the US attacks and “holds the American regime fully responsible for all consequences arising from these aggressive acts.” The ministry also suggested Iran would respond.
“Without any doubt, the Islamic Republic of Iran will leave no act of aggression unanswered and will show not the slightest hesitation in defending the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iran,” the statement said.
According to US officials, the US bombed Iranian boats that it claimed were laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, and then targeted missile launch sites used to target US aircraft. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement that its air defense forces shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Persian Gulf and also fired on an RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance drone and an “intruding” F-35 fighter jet.
Iranian sources told Al Jazeera that several IRGC personnel were killed by the US attack on Bandar Abbas, but so far, the casualties haven’t been confirmed by Tehran. The IRGC said that it has a “legitimate and definite right” to respond to ceasefire violations by the “aggressor US military.”
The US attack came amid negotiations between Washington and Tehran that are being mediated by Pakistan and follows a pattern of Iran being bombed during talks with the US. “The perpetration of these aggressive actions, concurrent with the ongoing diplomatic process mediated by Pakistan, once again exposed the dishonesty and unreliability of the ruling establishment of the United States to the Iranian nation, the peoples of the region, and the international community,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.
