US strikes Iran, revokes oil sanctions waiver after attacks on tankers in Hormuz

The US military unleashed a new wave of strikes against Iran on Tuesday and revoked a license allowing the country to sell oil after three tankers were hit by projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz, putting further pressure on an already fragile ceasefire.

After a day in which huge crowds mourned Iran’s slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the holy city of Qom, US Central Command announced that it had begun a series of “powerful” strikes intended to “impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping.”

“Iran’s demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire,” CENTCOM said on X.

Iranian media reported explosions early Wednesday local time in the southern port city of Sirik, on Qeshm Island, and in Bandar Abbas. No civilian deaths were reported, but several people were injured by shrapnel from an “enemy projectile” that hit a commercial pier in Sirik, according to an Iranian state TV reporter. The reports said strikes also hit fishing piers in Sirik and in Bandar Abbas, where several fishing boats were set ablaze.

A US official told Reuters that strikes targeted Iranian air defense systems, coastal surveillance systems, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship cruise missiles and drone launch sites.

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The strikes came shortly after Washington revoked a temporary sanctions waiver for Iranian oil, raising pressure on Tehran as it negotiates with the US over a final settlement to the conflict.

“Iran’s actions in the Strait were wholly unacceptable to the United States and will be met with consequences,” a US official told AFP.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the US-Iran memorandum of understanding was “entirely performance-based,” warning that Tehran would see benefits only if it showed “good behavior.”

Oil prices rose more than 3% after the US announced the move.

Work continues toward final agreement

A US official said earlier negotiators continued to work in good faith toward a final agreement with Iran. But control of the strait has given Tehran immense leverage, effectively allowing it to force a stalemate with the world’s most powerful military. Analysts say Tehran uses attacks on ships to underscore that leverage as it negotiates a long-term peace deal with the US.

Under the interim US-Iran agreement, the US Treasury issued a June 22 general license to allow the sale of crude oil and petrochemical and petroleum products of Iranian origin through August 21. In revoking that license on Tuesday, it gave Iran until July 17 to wind down any transactions.

Iran’s foreign ministry condemned the move as a breach of the framework agreement to end the war and said Washington would bear responsibility for the consequences.

“Iran is issuing a serious warning about the consequences of America’s breach of the treaty, and will take decisive measures to protect its interests and national security,” the ministry said in a statement carried by official media.

Qatar blamed Iran for Tuesday’s attacks on the vessels, including the huge Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker, the Al Rekayyat, which reported being struck overnight by a drone that caused a fire in its engine room. The crew were safe and being evacuated.

Qatar’s foreign ministry said it had summoned Iran’s deputy ambassador and handed him a protest note following the attack on the tanker, urging Tehran to “immediately cease any practices undermining regional security.”

“We hold Iran fully legally responsible for this attack and for any resulting damages or repercussions,” Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari wrote on X.

Iran voiced “dismay” over Qatar’s accusations in a statement carried by state news agency IRNA, calling the claims “unacceptable.” The statement claimed was diligently fulfilling its commitments but asserted that commercial vessels faced risks for using routes not coordinated with Iran.

A Saudi-flagged crude oil tanker, the supertanker Wedyan, was also damaged off Oman, maritime security sources said. Riyadh blamed Tehran for the attack, with its foreign ministry condemning “Iran’s targeting of the Saudi tanker Wedyan while it was transiting the Strait of Hormuz, as well as the targeting of the Qatari tanker Al-Rekayyat.”

A second US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said initial indications were that Iran had fired at three commercial vessels.

Hundreds of thousands take to streets in Qom

Tuesday’s attacks, which ended more than a week of relative calm, revived concerns over freedom of navigation after Iran lifted its blockade of the vital waterway as part of the ceasefire with the US.

Iran’s clerical rulers aim to install a permanent system to collect fees after the 60-day truce with the US in what would amount to a huge shift of the balance of power in a region where Washington has long acted as guarantor of security.

At home, the leadership has used the mourning for Khamenei that began last week to show its control after Khamenei was killed with his daughter, granddaughter, son-in-law and daughter-in-law on the war’s first day.

The caskets of the slain leader and family were driven through the streets of the seminary city of Qom on Tuesday, where many hundreds of thousands of people carried flags and banners comparing Khamenei to revered Shi’ite martyrs.

In chants they vowed to avenge Khamenei. Some bore placards and banners reading “KILL TRUMP.”

Later on Tuesday Iranian state media showed what it said was footage of an airplane carrying Khamenei’s coffin at the airport of the Shi’ite holy shrine city of Najaf in neighboring Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and senior Iraqi officials received the coffin ahead of funeral ceremonies and a mass public procession due to take place Wednesday, Iraqi state TV reported.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who was in Iraq to participate in the funeral ceremonies, left for Iran after US strikes on southern Iran, state television reported.

Trump: ‘Make a deal or we’re going to finish the job’ ‘

The ceasefire was intended to provide a 60-day window for negotiations on a permanent agreement, but indirect talks in Qatar ended last week with no sign of headway.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to resume bombing, most recently on Monday when he told reporters in the Oval Office: “We’re either going to make a deal or we’re going to finish the job…We can knock down their bridges in one hour, we can knock out their energy supply.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said that under the terms of the interim ceasefire memorandum, negotiations on the final deal would “not commence if threats continue.”

In launching the war four months ago, Trump said his aims were to destroy Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, end its ability to threaten its neighbors and create conditions for Iranians to topple their leaders.

None of those goals has been met, although Washington says a permanent deal will halt what it says is an Iranian program that could make a nuclear bomb, which Iran says it never sought.