US attacks Iran, Tehran retaliates across ME

The US launched strikes on Iran early on Tuesday morning, hours after President Donald Trump said Washington is "reinstating" a blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump separately suggested the United States will charge other ships for safe passage, upending hundreds of years of American policy supporting freedom of navigation across the globe.

Iran responded with attacks targeting Bahrain, Jordan and two tankers associated with the United Arab Emirates travelling through the strait, killing one mariner and wounding eight others.

The attacks come as Iran and the US vie for control of the strait through which a fifth of all traded crude oil and natural gas once passed in peacetime.

It also further shredded a ceasefire in place from an interim agreement between Iran and the US to end the war. The accord is now almost halfway through the 60-day period in which they were supposed to negotiate a final accord, which also was supposed to address Iran's disputed nuclear programme and other issues.

This picture shows ships sailing near the Strait of Hormuz off the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates at Khor Fakkan on Monday. AFP

The US military's Central Command said it struck areas around Abu Musa, Bandar Abbas, Bushehr, Chahbahar, Jask and Konarak, targeting Iranian "coastal defense systems, missile and drone sites and maritime capabilities."

Iran acknowledged strikes around those areas, but provided no immediate casualty or damage assessments.

"These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz," the US military said.

Moments after the military announced the new strikes, Trump called it "another major attack."

"We're hitting them very hard. And it'll continue, and we'll see what happens," he told reporters in the Oval Office. "We're knocking out all of their offensive capability and we're controlling the straits. We're putting the blockade back."

Trump also provided new details on his suggestion that the US will charge tolls for ships going through the strait, an about-face after previously saying that it wouldn't.

It's a change in US policy that, until now, said the strait should remain open to all without tolls – as it was before the US and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. Any attempt by the US or Iran to charge fees would violate global norms on freedom of navigation and raise tensions, likely causing further economic disruption far beyond the region.

The US Navy has fought for freedom of navigation on the seas since the Barbary Wars and the War of 1812.

Bahrain also came under renewed attack early Tuesday morning as Iran retaliated over the latest round of US airstrikes. Bahrain sounded its missile alert sirens three times, urging the public to seek shelter.

Jordan's military separately said it intercepted four missiles from Iran. Jordan hosts US forces and has come under attack by Tehran in recent days.

Associated Press