Washington and Tehran have exchanged strikes several times since Friday, threatening to upend a tentative interim peace deal
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The “very nature” of the US is to break its promises and treaties, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Sunday, following renewed attacks on the Islamic Republic’s coastal infrastructure.
Iran and the US exchanged strikes on Friday for the first time since signing an interim peace deal on June 17, with both sides accusing the other of violating the agreement’s terms.
“The aggressor enemy’s… very nature is to violate treaties and break promises,” the IRGC said in a statement cited by Iran’s Fars news agency. The US attacked Iranian facilities on Sunday morning using the “pretext of the IRGC Navy’s confrontation with a rogue vessel,” it added.
In response, Iranian forces launched ballistic missiles and drones at regional US bases on Sunday morning, it said. The attack destroyed eight military installations at the Ali Al-Salem base in Kuwait and the Fifth Fleet naval headquarters in Bahrain, the IRGC claimed, warning of “a crushing response” to any new attacks.
According to the US-Iranian Memorandum of Understanding, Iran should make “the arrangements for controlling passage in the Strait of Hormuz,” the IRGC said, warning of stronger penalties for “violating ships.”
The US and Iran have offered differing interpretations of the interim deal. Tehran has insisted that any vessels passing the key waterway get permission from the Iranian authorities and solely use routes designated by them, while Washington has demanded that Iran provide unimpeded access and charge no fees.
The renewed strikes have threatened to derail already tense negotiations, which have been further complicated by Israeli strikes on Lebanon.
Iranian officials also said that previous negotiations have eroded trust in US diplomacy.
