Fresh Blasts Near Strait of Hormuz Deepen Crisis as Iran Warns of US MoU Pullout

Fresh explosions near Iran’s Strait of Hormuz raise tensions as Tehran warns it may abandon its US MoU.

Fresh explosions were heard in southern Iran near the Strait of Hormuz after a weekend of attacks stretching across the wider Middle East, further threatening any diplomacy to end the war that began on February 28.

Explosions of unknown origin were heard near the Strait of Hormuz, an Iranian news agency said. “Media and residents reported having heard on Monday at midday explosions near Bandar Abbas and the island of Qeshm,” Mehr news agency reported.

The blasts “appear to be coming from the West Coast of Bandar Abbas,” the report said.

The escalation comes at a time when the US and Iran are nearly halfway through the 60-day interim deal period that was supposed to set up talks for a permanent end to the war.

However, it has devolved into a series of attacks over the strait and its future, worrying world leaders that the Iran war could fully resume.

The series of tit-for-tat attacks was triggered after a container ship came under attack in the strait off the coast of Oman. The narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf has seen shipping disrupted since the start of the US-Israel-Iran war.

The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said that its forces hit dozens of sites in the strikes Monday, including air defence systems, radar sites, missile and drone equipment and small boat; while missile alert sirens sounded three times Monday in Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, and Kuwait said it was intercepting hostile fire.

The blasts were reported at a time Iran said that it would no longer abide by the memorandum of understanding signed with the United States if Washington failed to uphold its commitments to end the war.

“Each time that the other party has failed to meet its obligations, we did not uphold ours… We will continue to act in this manner,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghei said at a press conference.

Baghei said that Iran has carried out its pledges under the memorandum of understanding with the United States, saying, “No one can accuse the Islamic Republic of Iran of violating its promises.”