U.S. hits Iran with airstrikes and blocked oil sales in latest threats to ceasefire

A tenuous ceasefire towards peace was shaken when the U.S. launched airstrikes on Iran and blocked its global oil sales on Tuesday. Photo by Elke Scholiers /Getty Images

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The U.S. launched fresh airstrikes in Iran and revoked a waiver that allowed it to sell oil globally, further imperilling a peace agreement after a series of attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

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The “powerful strikes” were meant to “impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement on X.

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Hours earlier, the U.S. Treasury Department announced it was barring new sales of Iranian oil after July 7. Gold slumped amid fears that elevated energy prices might prompt the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.

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Taken together, the American actions marked the most serious threat yet to the interim agreement signed between the two countries’ leaders on June 17. They also threatened to scuttle negotiations aimed at achieving a permanent peace within 60 days of that deal.

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American forces concentrated on Iranian air defences and weapons launchers in the attacks, according to a U.S. official. Iran’s Mehr News Agency reported explosions were heard near the strait.

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West Texas Intermediate surged above US$72 a barrel as news of the latest clashes became known. Oil’s rebound, after futures had plunged in the second quarter as regional tensions cooled, threatens a new wave of disruption for global energy markets. Global benchmark Brent oil prices touched a peak near $125 a barrel in late April, two months after the U.S. and Israel began the military campaign against Iran. Prices returned toward pre-conflict levels this month on growing signs of a recovery.

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Both sides accused the other of violating the ceasefire. The U.S. blamed Iran for the strikes on commercial shippers in Hormuz over the last day — the most since the agreement went into effect.

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Iran called the U.S. operation and the waiver revocation violations of the two sides’ agreement. Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi vowed “decisive actions” in response.

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A U.S. official, speaking under condition of anonymity before the American strikes took place, said Iran would only get the benefits of its deal if it exhibited good behaviour.

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But the official added that negotiators continue to work in good faith toward a final accord, suggesting the U.S. wasn’t ready to abandon the peace process completely.

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The end of attacks on commercial shipping and the previous 60-day waiver allowing Iranian oil sales were key elements of the memorandum of understanding that halted fighting between the U.S. and Iran.

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That deal was meant to create space for more detailed negotiations on the fate of Iran’s nuclear program and the future of the strait.

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Even so, the memorandum has held only tenuously. In late June, Iran struck a Singapore-flagged container ship in the strait, prompting the U.S. to retaliate and setting off a series of back-and-forth attacks.

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And Tehran has repeatedly said it wouldn’t allow vessels to transit the waterway without its permission, though it denied any involvement in an attack on a Qatar-linked vessel. President Donald Trump had pushed for ships to pass freely through the strait as they had done before the U.S. and Israel began attacking Iran in late February.