- Vance warns Iran against further attacks on US interests.
- Iran says it attacked US sites in the Gulf in retaliation for the attacks.
- Tensions in the Strait of Hormuz raise fears about global oil shipping.
The United States and Iran traded military strikes after Washington on Friday accused Tehran of attacking a cargo ship, jeopardizing a fragile ceasefire as diplomats struggle to contain the war in the Middle East.
US Central Command said US strikes on Iranian missile and drone storage sites and coastal radar positions were a response to “unwarranted aggression against commercial shipping by Iranian forces” that “clearly violated the ceasefire.”
He described the operation as “a powerful response to yesterday's attack on a commercial ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”
Iranian state television, citing a journalist in Sirik, said an explosion was heard on Friday night at Taherouyeh pier in the southern port city. It quoted an informed military source as saying that the explosion was caused by the impact of a projectile in the area.
US President Donald Trump had earlier denounced what he described as an Iranian drone attack on the ship, saying: “Obviously, this is a foolish violation of our ceasefire agreement.”
Vice President JD Vance issued a direct warning, posting on X that “violence will be met with violence” if Iran carries out more attacks.
Minutes later on Saturday morning Iran time, state television reported that the Revolutionary Guard said it had attacked US sites in the Gulf region in retaliation for US attacks.
“If the aggression is repeated, our response will be broader,” the Guards said, according to a post by state television on Telegram.
The exchanges raised new questions about efforts to keep the Strait of Hormuz open as Washington and Tehran negotiate a final agreement to a war that began on February 28 with US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
Iran has warned ships not to enter or leave the Gulf through the strait without permission, but ships have continued to move, some using a route not authorized by Tehran.
About half of the 42 ships that made the crossing on Thursday used an unauthorized southern route along the coast of Oman, according to the Kpler tracking platform.
The U.N. maritime agency said an evacuation operation had freed 115 ships and 2,500 sailors trapped by the dispute before the attack forced it to be called off.
However, oil prices fell sharply, reflecting hopes that traffic through Hormuz – a strategic waterway through which around a fifth of global oil and gas exports normally pass – would continue to recover despite the latest outbreak.
Lebanon Frame
Israel and Lebanon praised an agreement signed with the United States to pave the way to peace on their front of the war, although Hezbollah warned that the agreement would thwart plans to resolve the broader conflict.
At a signing ceremony in Washington, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, flanked by Israeli and Lebanese envoys, said the trilateral agreement “begins to establish a framework for lasting peace and security.”
“It's the beginning of the beginning. There is a lot of work ahead,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the framework as a victory against Iran, which maintains that the Lebanon front is inseparable from the broader war and must be resolved as part of US-Iran talks.
“Iran has been trying to force us to withdraw from southern Lebanon through pressure but, in effect, Israel, Lebanon and the United States are telling them: this is none of your business,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu said the deal would allow the Lebanese army to return to two “pilot areas” in southern Lebanon, but that Israeli forces would remain in their security zone until Hezbollah is disarmed. The return of displaced civilians would be prevented.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun welcomed the unprecedented framework as a “first step” towards the return of civilians to their homes “under the sovereignty of the Lebanese State.”
But Hezbollah supporters took to the streets of Beirut on Friday night to protest the deal.
Hezbollah parliamentarian Hassan Fadlallah said Washington's signing sought to undermine the US-Iran ceasefire, which he said provided for Lebanon to be resolved through a broader peace process.
The Lebanese government, he warned, will not be able to impose the agreement “unless, with American support, it descends into civil war.”
Nuclear safeguards
Meanwhile, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog warned that any final deal between the United States and Iran would need strong safeguards to ensure Tehran does not build a nuclear weapon.
Iran's nuclear program remains a central sticking point, with Tehran and Washington giving conflicting accounts of whether inspectors will regain access to the Islamic republic's facilities.
“The government of Iran has stated very clearly that this is not its intention,” International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said of nuclear weapons development.
“But of course, intentions are not enough. We have to have a very robust verification system… as soon as possible.”
The interim deal says Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium – estimated before the war at 440 kilograms (970 pounds), enriched to 60% – should be “reduced.”
