US conducts retaliatory strikes on Iran after second shipping attack

The US has conducted new strikes on Iran, following a drone attack on a Panama-flagged vessel in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday. US Central Command (Centcom) said it hit multiple targets across Iran in direct response to "continued aggression" against commercial shipping, including military equipment, communication systems, air defense sites and drone storage facilities. "Iran was given a chance to honor the ceasefire agreement but elected not to when its forces launched a one-way attack drone that hit MT Kiku," a Panama-flagged tanker, it said in a statement. Commercial vessels are continuing to operate in the Strait of Hormuz, Centcom said. Iran is yet to comment on the latest strikes. The latest strikes come less than a day after the US launched retaliatory strikes on Iran that it said were in response to a drone attack on Singapore-flagged cargo ship, MV Ever Lovely, on 25 June. Centcom described the American strikes as "a powerful response" to the attack on the cargo ship, adding that the "unwarranted aggression against commercial shipping by Iranian forces clearly violated the ceasefire". Tehran said the cargo ship was attacked because it was using an unauthorised route to transit through the Gulf waterway, and said that the retaliatory strikes qualified as a ceasefire violation by the US. …