Iran Launches Drone Assault On Bahrain After U.S. Airstrikes In Strait Of Hormuz

Iran launched a drone assault targeting Bahrain while a ship in the Strait of Hormuz was attacked Saturday, in what the sources describe as Tehran’s likely response to overnight U.S. airstrikes on Iranian targets.

“US strikes Iranian targets after alleged drone attack on ship in Hormuz Strait The U”

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The attacks followed a Thursday Iranian drone attack on a container ship trying to leave the strait, prompting U.S. airstrikes overnight in response, and the U.S. Central Command said it struck Iranian missile and drone locations and coastal radar sites.

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In Bahrain, the Foreign Ministry said a “number of Iranian drones” targeted the country and called it “a flagrant threat to the security of citizens and residents.”

In the strait, the British maritime security agency UKMTO said a tanker was attacked Saturday, with the crew safe and no environmental damage reported, while the Joint Maritime Information Center said the threat to ships was “substantial.”

Bahrain condemned the drone attack as a “flagrant threat to the security of citizens and residents,” while Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had targeted several locations “of the U.S. terrorist army in the region” without specifying where.

Vice President JD Vance, who has led negotiations with Iran, said on social media Friday night that Iran should “pick up the phone” if there are disagreements about the ceasefire agreement, “but violence will be met with violence.”

BBC

Ebrahim Azizi, who heads the Iranian parliament's national security commission, wrote Friday that “the Strait of Hormuz is governed by Iran, so: Respect the rules.”

The BBC also reported that Ebrahim Azizi said the U.S. had “attacked Iran in the middle of negotiations once again,” framing the escalation as a breach of the interim deal.

The sources say the tit-for-tat strikes threaten to complicate the 60-day window set by the memorandum of understanding, which is intended to end the four-month-old conflict and includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz for safe passage of commercial vessels with no charge for 60 days.

“A tanker reported being struck by a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, Britain's maritime security agency said, after the United States and Iran each launched strikes in the worst escalation since they signed their interim peace deal”

CBC

A multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said it would expand a route near Oman to allow for both inbound and outbound traffic, while the International Maritime Organization halted its effort to evacuate ships and said it would not resume until there are guarantees that the other ships won’t be attacked.

The BBC reported that the cargo ship Ever Lovely was struck 7.5 nautical miles south-east of Oman's port of Dahit, with the ship remaining operational despite damage to its bridge and no environmental damage reported.

In the background of the maritime dispute, the sources tie the deal to ending fighting in Lebanon between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, and the BBC reported that Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem described the 14-point agreement as “null and void.”