US launches new strikes on Iran

The US military unleashed a new wave of strikes against Iran on July 7 and revoked a licence allowing the country to sell oil after three tankers were hit in the Strait of Hormuz, putting pressure on an already fragile ceasefire.



After a day in which huge crowds mourned Iran's slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the holy city of Qom, US Central Command said it hit over 80 targets in a series of strikes intended to impose what it called heavy costs.



The military command said it struck more than 60 small boats of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in an effort to degrade Iran's ability to attack commercial shipping.



"The unwarranted aggression by Iranian forces is a clear and dangerous violation of the ceasefire and undermines freedom of navigation," CENTCOM said in a statement.



Iran's top joint military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, denounced the US strikes as a "blatant act of aggression," threatened a "crushing response," and warned that Tehran would not allow US interference in the management of the strait.