US Bombs Iran Again as Fragile Ceasefire Hangs in the Balance

The United States military launched fresh strikes across Iranian territory on Wednesday evening local time, further threatening a ceasefire agreement already on the brink of collapse. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces had conducted ‘additional self-defence strikes’ against ‘multiple targets in Iran’. CENTCOM stated the strikes were carried out on the orders of US President Donald Trump and were a ‘response to Iran’s unprovoked and sustained aggression’. US War Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking to reporters an hour before the strikes, said CENTCOM ‘will be busy tonight’. ‘Because President Trump said we will hit Iran hard – and we will do it,’ he said, as quoted by Al Jazeera. Although threatening further attacks on Iran, Hegseth claimed Tehran ‘has an opportunity to make a deal’ with Washington. Without detailing which facilities would be targeted, he said the US strikes would be ‘strong’ and ‘clear’. He also claimed, without evidence, that Washington ‘has been able to bring oil in and out’ of the Strait of Hormuz ‘and has been doing so for weeks’.

Notably, the war began with illegal US and Israeli attacks on Iran in February. Thousands of Iranian civilians have become victims of those strikes. Hundreds of civilian facilities, including schools, hospitals, oil refineries and drinking water installations, have been targeted in the US-Israeli attacks. Iran retaliated by targeting US military bases in the region and blockading the Strait of Hormuz. Despite a partial ceasefire being agreed last April, the US and Israel have continued their strikes. Hezbollah in Lebanon entered the war following confirmation of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death in an Israeli attack. Israeli strikes and annexation in southern Lebanon have since killed around 3,600 people. The escalation has intensified recently after Iran made a halt to attacks on Lebanon a condition for a permanent ceasefire. Iran struck Israel for the first time since the ceasefire earlier this week.

Iran’s Ambassador to the UN declared that ‘no sustainable agreement can be achieved through threats, intimidation, or the use of force’. ‘The President of the United States must refrain from repeated threats against Iran, including further threats of violence made today,’ Amir Saeid Iravani told a UN Security Council meeting. ‘Iran will never negotiate under threat and pressure, and will never submit to coercion,’ Iravani stated, adding that the US ‘should have learned by now that military threats and intimidation are counter-productive’. ‘If Washington is genuinely interested in a diplomatic solution, it must abandon the language of threats and engage with Iran on the basis of mutual respect, sovereign equality, and full compliance with international law.’ Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei accused the US military of ‘deliberately’ striking civilian water infrastructure in Sirik, a port city in southern Iran’s Hormozgan province, during Wednesday’s raids. The attack destroyed two reservoirs supplying drinking water to more than 20,000 residents across 10 villages, Baghaei wrote on social media. ‘This is not collateral damage – it is a calculated war crime and a flagrant violation of human rights and international humanitarian law,’ he said. ‘The US must be held accountable for systematic, brutal attacks on civilian life-supporting infrastructure.’