U.S. Strikes Iranian Military Sites After Trump Accuses Tehran of Breaking Hormuz Ceasefire

The United States military struck targets inside Iran on Friday, a sharp escalation that the two governments describe in conflicting terms. U.S. Central Command said its aircraft hit Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites, and President Trump said the action followed what he called a "foolish violation" of a 60-day ceasefire after Iran fired at least four one-way attack drones at ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz.

One of those drones struck the upper deck of the Singapore-flagged cargo vessel Ever Lovely off the coast of Oman on Thursday, damaging the ship's bridge without causing injuries, according to U.S. and shipping accounts. American forces said they shot down the three other drones.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had acted in the area around Sirik Island and characterized the U.S. strike as an act of aggression that "will not go unanswered," promising a response "at a time and place of our choosing." The exchange comes a little more than a week after Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a memorandum of understanding intended to build a permanent peace deal, under which Iran agreed to use its best efforts to keep the strait open for toll-free passage.

The fighting follows an earlier phase of the conflict this month in which the IRGC briefly declared the strait closed to all vessels and struck U.S. and allied sites in the Gulf, according to Iranian statements reported by Al Jazeera. Roughly a fifth of the world's traded oil passes through the waterway.

Oil prices fell on the day despite the strike. Brent crude settled near $74 a barrel, down about 4 percent, a move that traders attributed mainly to recovering tanker flows through Hormuz rather than to the military action, CNBC reported.