U.S. strikes Iran after Trump calls Iranian strike on cargo ship ‘foolish violation’ of ceasefire

The United States struck Iran on Friday in response to Iran’s reported attack on a cargo ship crossing the Strait of Hormuz a day earlier, U.S. Central Command announced Friday afternoon.

In a post on X, CENTCOM said U.S. aircraft “struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites.”

CENTCOM characterized the Thursday attack as “unwarranted aggression against commercial shipping” and said it violated the ceasefire.

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

In response to a request for comment on the strikes, a White House spokesperson referred MS NOW to the CENTCOM post.

The strikes came hours after President Donald Trump on Friday accused Iran of striking a cargo ship crossing the Strait of Hormuz, calling the attack a “foolish violation” of the countries’ ceasefire agreement in a Truth Social post.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) states, in part, that Iran will use “its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels.” Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, insisted on Friday that Iran ultimately controls passage through the strait, writing in a post on X, “safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, with ambiguous arrangements, parallel routes, or decision-making outside of Iran’s considerations as the coastal state, cannot be guaranteed.”

In the Truth Social post earlier Friday, Trump said Iran shot “at least four One Way Attack Drones” at ships crossing the strait, a key oil route, and that one of the drones “solidly hit the upper deck of a large and very expensive Cargo Carrying Ship.”

“Damage was done, but the Ship was able to proceed on its way. We knocked down three other Drones,” Trump wrote. “Obviously, this is a foolish violation of our Ceasefire Agreement.”

Trump did not specify when and which ships he was referring to, though he made the statement after the British military said Thursday that a ship was hit by a projectile off the coast of Oman. CENTCOM said Friday the Singaporean ship, called Ever Lovely, was exiting the strait along the Omani coast at the time of the attack.

Trump also did not initially say what, if any, action he planned to take in response to the alleged ceasefire violation. But when a reporter asked later Friday at the White House if Iran would face any consequences for violating the ceasefire, Trump said, “You’ll see.” Responding to a question on whether the ceasefire is still intact, Trump declined to say.

“I don’t like the fact that they took a shot yesterday, actually four,” the president said. “We knocked down three at a ship, not an allied ship, but a ship, a very expensive ship, and it was fine, but it took a little beating. They shouldn’t be doing that, so you’ll find out.”

A U.S. official granted anonymity to discuss internal assessments told MS NOW on Thursday that the White House would determine whether the attack constituted a violation of MOU. That official also said Iran was behind the attack.

Following the Thursday attack, Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization, said the organization was pausing its evacuation plan of more than 11,000 sailors stranded in the strait “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.”

Julia Jester contributed reporting.

This story has been updated to include additional comments from Trump and news of the U.S. strikes on Iran on Friday afternoon.

The post U.S. strikes Iran after Trump calls Iranian strike on cargo ship ‘foolish violation’ of ceasefire appeared first on MS NOW.

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