US strikes Iran after drone attack on commercial ship in Strait of Hormuz

The United States struck Iran on Friday in response to an Iranian drone attack on Thursday on a Singapore-flagged commercial cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said the military struck missile and drone locations and coastal radar sites in Iran.

“U.S. 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,” CENTCOM wrote on 𝕏. “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. Furthermore, Iran’s dangerous behavior undermined freedom of navigation as commerce increasingly flows through the vital international trade corridor.”

The strikes came just days after U.S. Vice President JD Vance said that CENTCOM was expected to establish a direct communication channel with officials from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Qatar.

On Friday, Vance warned that any renewed Iranian attacks would draw a military response.

“Iran signed a ceasefire agreement. We have honored it,” Vance posted on 𝕏. “If they have disagreements about how the MOU is being applied, they can pick up the phone. But violence will be met with violence.”

The IRGC announced that it had targeted U.S. bases in the Gulf region in retaliation for the American strikes in Iran.

“If the aggression is repeated, our response will be broader than this,” the IRGC added.

U.S. President Donald Trump condemned Iran’s attack on the commercial ships in the Hormuz shortly before the U.S. response.

“I don’t like the fact that they took a shot yesterday, actually four of them,” Trump said, referring to Iran's launching of attack drones.

The head of the Iranian parliament’s National Security Commission, Ebrahim Azizi, said Iran had not violated the ceasefire but was instead "managing" it.

“This is not a violation of the ceasefire; it is ceasefire management,” Azizi wrote on 𝕏, adding: “The reality in the Persian Gulf has changed. The Strait of Hormuz is governed by Iran, so: Respect the rules. Use secure routes. Do not mistake control for escalation. If you do not learn the rules, the Iranian armed forces will teach them to you.”

Iran's attack on the cargo ships came just as the International Maritime Organization (IMO) began operations this week to evacuate stranded vessels from the Strait of Hormuz. The UN agency said on Friday that the evacuations would remain suspended until safety guarantees were in place.

“Following the launch of the IMO’s evacuation plan, through which several vessels have already been successfully evacuated, I have decided to temporarily pause its implementation in order to reconfirm that the necessary safety guarantees continue to be in place for the ships on our evacuation list and all those in the region,” said IMO Sec.-Gen. Arsenio Dominguez. 

IMO reported that approximately 500 ships are still stranded in the Hormuz Strait.