On 16 July, the US military announced that it had carried out a new wave of air strikes against Iranian targets, despite signs of a possible move towards de-escalation following Tehran’s release of a US citizen from custody.
“Today at 14:00 Eastern Time, US forces began a new wave of strikes against Iran for the fifth consecutive night, to further degrade Iran’s military capabilities,” according to a statement from US Central Command (CENTCOM).
Iranian media reported strikes around Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz – the focal point of the conflict in recent weeks.
Reports from Gulf states indicate that Tehran has launched its own attacks on targets across the region, whilst the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed to have struck a US airbase in Jordan with ballistic missiles. Prior to this, the IRGC had accused the US of carrying out a strike near a children’s cancer hospital in Iran.
Reuters had previously reported explosions in Dubai, although the emirate’s government media office denied these claims.
At the same time, despite fears that Washington and Tehran are on the brink of a return to full-scale war, White House press secretary Caroline Livitt stated on 16 July that Iran is continuing negotiations:
“Iran is continuing to engage fully with the United States and has expressed a desire to reach an agreement with us, because they are suffering devastating strikes from the US military.”
Levitt emphasised that the reason for the American strikes was Iran’s breach of a memorandum of understanding previously concluded with the US.
“In particular, under the memorandum of understanding they signed, they were not supposed to fire on commercial vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz, and, unfortunately, they took the tragic decision to do so,” the spokesperson stated.
Earlier, CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper stated that over the past seven days, Iran had deliberately attacked seven commercial vessels in the region, resulting in nearly a dozen civilian crew members being killed, injured or reported missing.
On 13 July, Donald Trump stated that the United States could take control of the Strait of Hormuz, which in peacetime handles around one-fifth of the world’s energy transit and has become one of the main battlegrounds of the conflict.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, however, maintains that the only way to restore regular shipping through the strait is to end US military intervention in the waterway.