Tehran responds by hitting Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman
Dubai: The United States attacked Iran early Sunday morning over an Iranian strike on a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz that set the container ship ablaze and forced its crew to abandon it.
Iran responded with attacks targeting several countries in the Middle East, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman
and Jordan. The burst of fighting raised new questions about efforts to reach a permanent end to a war that began on February 28.
The strait, a key transit route for oil and natural gas, has become the key sticking point in negotiations, and repeated fighting over the past week has left negotiations in danger of collapse.
The US military’s Central Command said it hit some 140 targets in Sunday’s strikes and went after missile and drone launch sites, ammunition dumps, communication equipment and other sites.
It said the attacks, heavier than previous attacks in recent days, would weaken Iran’s ability to threaten civilian shipping.
“Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay,” US defence secretary Pete Hegseth wrote online.
In the Strait of Hormuz attack, a Cyprus-flagged container ship was hit by Iran and suffered “significant engineroom damage”, the US Central Command said early Sunday morning.
Oman’s maritime authority said it rescued 23 crewmembers from the ship, but that one is still missing. India’s Ministry of External Affairs said the missing crewmember is an Indian national and said it was working with Oman to locate him.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre, overseen by the British military, said the ship had been hugging the shoreline of Oman. That’s been the way ships have entered and exited the Persian Gulf while avoiding Iranian territorial waters.
Semiofficial Iranian news agencies reported that a navy officer was killed by the early morning attack. Iran retaliated by attacking nations in the region hosting US military forces, while insisting it alone must control the strait and potentially charge vessels for travelling through it.
“The era of one-sided deals is over,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the Speaker of Iran’s Parliament and a main negotiator, wrote Sunday. “We told you: keep your word or pay the price. Reality is knocking.”
Iran and the US agreed to an interim ceasefire on June 17, beginning a 60-day period aimed at reaching a permanent end to the war, which US President Donald Trump declared “over” three days ago.
Negotiations have been repeatedly disrupted by violence. The US has launched three rounds of airstrikes targeting Iran in the last week over Iranian attacks on ships heading through the strait using a route seeking to avoid the Islamic Republic’s territorial waters.
Missile alerts sounded across several Gulf Arab countries early Sunday morning.
Qatar’s military said it intercepted incoming Iranian fire, with explosions heard in the neighbouring United Arab Emirates. Three people, including a child, were wounded as a result of falling shrapnel from the interception of Iranian attacks, Qatar’s Interior Ministry said, giving no further details on their conditions.
Missile alerts sounded in Bahrain, an island kingdom in the Persian Gulf home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet. Kuwait’s military also said it was intercepting incoming fire.
The Omani state news agency said drones struck sites in an area that sits on the Strait of Hormuz and issued a shelter-in-place warning for residents in the region.
The attack came after the two countries held talks on Saturday. Oman summoned the Iranian ambassador to protest the strikes.
Three Iranian missiles struck areas across Jordan, causing minor damage but no injuries, Jordan’s state news agency reported.
Sirens also sounded in the United Arab Emirates, but the government said missiles did not cross into UAE borders. The UAE so far hasn’t been targeted in the most recent round of Iranian attacks.
Indian sailor missing after vessel attack
New Delhi: India on Sunday condemned an attack on a Cyprus-flagged commercial vessel off the coast of Oman that left one of its 11 Indian crewmembers missing.
As West Asia witnessed fresh hostilities between Iran and the US, India reiterated its call for immediate de-escalation of tension and said the targeting of commercial shipping and civilian infrastructure in the region must end.
The US Central Command said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) “blatantly attacked” container ship GFS Galaxy when it was transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
“A civilian crewmember is missing and the vessel is unable to continue the journey due to an onboard fire and significant engine room damage,” it said.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said GFS Galaxy was targeted early on Sunday, which triggered a fire onboard the vessel.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said 10 Indian crewmembers of the vessel have been rescued.
“We condemn the attack on the commercial vessel GFS Galaxy off the coast of Oman, earlier today. Of the 11 Indian nationals on board, 10 have been rescued so far, while 1 Indian national is reportedly missing,” it said in a statement.
The MEA said the Indian embassy in Oman is closely monitoring the situation and proactively coordinating with Omani authorities in the ongoing search and rescue operation. “We thank the Omani authorities for their support.”
It said the continuing incidents of attacks on commercial shipping in the region are “deeply worrisome”.
