Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has threatened to close “all other export corridors that benefit the US and its allies”, Iranian media reported, after Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz and the US reimposed a naval blockade of Iranian ports.
“Regional energy exports are either shared by all, or denied to all,” the IRGC said in a statement carried by Iran’s IRNA state news agency on Wednesday.
Moreover, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said on Wednesday that there were no plans to engage in talks with the United States and the focus is solely on defending the country.
Speaking to reporters, Baghaei said Tehran would honour its international commitments only if Washington fulfilled its own obligations. “Our commitments remain in effect only as long as the other side fulfills its pledges,” he said.
Baghaei added that Iran had ceased implementing its obligations under the memorandum of understanding after the United States failed to uphold its side of the temporary agreement. “After the other party violated its obligations, we also refrained from implementing ours in any area where it was required,” he said.
This comes as the United States launched another wave of attacks on Iran, striking what it said were military targets along the country’s southern coast and near the Strait of Hormuz, while Tehran claimed fresh attacks on US military facilities across the region as a fragile ceasefire comes under growing strain.
US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees the US military in the Middle East, says it completed a 90-minute round of strikes against Iran at 7:30am Washington, DC, time (11:30 GMT).
“CENTCOM launched precision munitions against coastal defense systems and cruise missile storage and launch sites on Greater Tunb Island during the 90-minute wave,” it said in a post on X, claiming that the strikes further “degraded” Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
It followed earlier US attacks overnight, with fighter aircraft, drones and naval vessels striking “dozens of military targets near the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian coastal areas”. These strikes coincided with Washington’s resumption of its naval blockade of Iranian ports, while oil prices climbed amid concerns over disruptions to global energy supplies.
Iranian media reported explosions in several cities and on islands along the country’s southern coast, including Bandar Abbas, Qeshm, Hengam, Sirik and Bushehr, where air defence systems were activated.
Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said more than 30 civilians had been killed in recent US attacks across southern Iran.
Hossein Kermanpour, a spokesperson for Iran’s Health Ministry, added that more than 260 people had been injured in the latest US attacks, with 222 discharged after receiving treatment.
Separately, the Iranian army said 13 US missiles struck facilities at Bambour Garrison in Iranshahr, killing seven soldiers from the 388th Brigade and wounding several others. It said the attack targeted accommodation blocks, guard posts and a guesthouse and accused Washington of intending to inflict “maximum casualties”.
Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi described “another night of escalation”, saying a bottled water facility in Dehloran, western Ilam province, was reportedly hit, while Iranian sources said projectiles struck soldiers’ accommodation at a military base in Bampur, in southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had launched overnight attacks on US military assets in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan in response to the latest US strikes.
The IRGC claimed it had inflicted heavy damage on the US Fifth Fleet headquarters, support facilities and fuel tanks in Bahrain, as well as a major US military logistics hub at Mina Abdullah in Kuwait.