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US launches new wave of strikes against Iran as Tehran says diplomacy has proven ‘futile’
US F-16 fighter jets flying over the Middle East in a file image. The US has carried out new strikes against Iran while Tehran has declared the strait of Hormuz is closed. Photograph: Centcom View image in fullscreen US F-16 fighter jets flying over the Middle East in a file image. The US has carried out new strikes against Iran while Tehran has declared the strait of Hormuz is closed. Photograph: Centcom US launches new wave of strikes against Iran as Tehran says diplomacy has proven ‘futile’ American and Iranian forces exchange heavy missile and drone attacks over control of strait of Hormuz, increasing pressure on truce The US military has launched a new wave of attacks against Iran amid the escalating standoff over the strait of Hormuz, with Tehran saying the latest strikes had “rendered futile” all the diplomatic efforts of the past few months. The US military began launching more strikes against Iran at 9pm GMT on Sunday, US Central Command (Centcom) said on X, “to continue degrading their ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the Strait of Hormuz”. It added that President Donald Trump “has directed the strikes to hold Iranian forces accountable”. Trump, referring to the weekend strikes on Iran, said: “We’re beating them up.” Tehran targeted US facilities in states across the Gulf earlier on Sunday and said it had again closed the strait as the renewed violence cast further doubt on the future of an interim US-Iranian truce agreement signed last month. Centcom said some ships were continuing to cross the waterway. The strikes were the latest in a cycle of attacks and counterattacks as Iran seeks to assert control over shipping through the vital energy route, but the barrage marked an escalation in pace and range. Centcom said it carried out about 140 strikes on Saturday night. Trump rejects Iran’s strait of Hormuz closure claim as fight for control goes on Read more Iran’s strikes on Sunday extended to Qatar, a mediator in ceasefire talks that had not come under attack since April. The United Arab Emirates, which had not been targeted since early May, said its air defences had engaged missiles and drones from Iran. Iranian media said on Sunday there had been missile attacks and explosions around the port cities of Sirik and Bandar Abbas, home to military facilities on the Hormuz strait, and nearby Qeshm Island. Iran condemned the latest wave of US attacks, with the foreign ministry saying they had “rendered futile all efforts of the past few months to reduce tension and establish peace in the West Asian region”. The ministry also said in the statement: “The US regime has also caused the return of insecurity in the strait of Hormuz and disruption of international commercial shipping by openly interfering in the process of Iran implementing the necessary arrangements in the strait of Hormuz.” The ministry also said talks between Iran and Oman on Saturday in Muscat – focused on arrangements for managin
