IRANIAN president Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday (May 26) hailed the Iranian military's defensive capabilities after the U.S. conducted what it called defensive strikes in southern Iran.
Iran's foreign ministry said U.S. strikes in Iran's southern Hormozgan province, where Iranian media reported sounds of explosions early on Tuesday, represented a "gross violation" of a tenuous ceasefire in place for nearly seven weeks.
Both sides had indicated progress on a memorandum of understanding that could halt the war and restart shipping through the blockaded Strait of Hormuz, while giving negotiators 60 days to negotiate more complex issues including Iran's nuclear program.
Following strikes against targets that the U.S. said included boats attempting to lay mines and missile launch sites, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on his plane in India's Jaipur that the Strait of Hormuz had to be open "one way or the other."
The war, which began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, has caused an unprecedented oil supply shock, pushing up oil prices along with the costs of fuel, fertilizer and food. Iran responded to the strikes by launching drones and missiles at Gulf states that host U.S. bases.
