IN BRIEF: Renewed strikes in response to MoU violations as US-Iran tensions rise

MOSCOW, July 8. /TASS/. The US military has attacked more than 60 small boats used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), US Central Command (CENTCOM) reported.

The US attack on Iran was in violation of Points 1 and 2 of the Islamabad memorandum of understanding, the Islamic Republic’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said.

The IRGC Navy and Aerospace Force reported launching strikes against 85 US military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait in response to US attacks on Iranian soil.

TASS has compiled key details about the latest escalation.

- The US military launched major strikes on Iran in response to Iranian attacks on three vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, CENTCOM said.

- Later, CENTCOM said it had struck 80 Iranian targets, using precision munitions.

- The targets included Iranian air defenses, command outposts, radar sites, anti-ship missile sites, and more than 60 small boats used by the IRGC in and near the Strait of Hormuz, CENTCOM specified.

Iran’s position

- Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi stated that the latest US attack on Iran violated Points 1 and 2 of the Islamabad memorandum of understanding (MoU), Fars news agency reported.

- Speaker of the Parliament of Iran Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf too accused the United States of serious violations of the Islamabad MoU.

- He said the key violations of the MoU by the United States included violating Iranian vessel passage in the Strait of Hormuz, persistent threats of further strikes, reinstating oil sanctions, continued Israeli aggression on Lebanon, and attacks on southern Iran.

- "The era of bullying and extortion is over," Ghalibaf added as he warned attempts at blackmailing Iran will go nowhere.

- The IRGC Navy and Aerospace Force launched strikes on 85 US military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait in response to US attacks inside Iran, Fars news agency quoted the IRGC as saying in a statement.

- Later, the Iranian military also reported hitting US military facilities at Isa Air Base in Bahrain.

Statements from NATO chief

- NATO leaders will reiterate at the Ankara summit Iran should never "get its hands on a nuclear capability," while the Strait of Hormuz must open up again, especially to the 32 bloc members, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told reporters at the doorstep of the Ankara summit's Day 2.

- He described the latest US strikes on Iran as "absolutely necessary."