Transcription
Iran's Revolutionary Guard says it's launched attacks targeting US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain. It comes after the US carried out the second consecutive night of strikes on Iran's southern coast, marking the worst escalation since a memorandum of understanding was signed more than a week ago. Strikes were reported on the port city of Sirk and Keshum Island, where some of Iran's key military facilities are located. The US says the latest strikes are in response to an Iranian attack on a commercial shipping vessel on Saturday. Both sides are now accusing each other of ceasefire violations.
The IRGC has released a statement saying, "According to the Islamabad agreement, the arrangements for controlling passage in the straight of moose are with the Islamic Republic, and from now on, stronger action will be taken against violating ships than before. The enemy should know that violating the ceasefire is against the first clause of the Islamabad agreement and will lead to a complete halt of processes."
Brazil Sardar has more details from the Iranian capital, Thran.
The IGC statement simply saying that the USA has violated the agreement, and there have been, uh, five coastal post of the Islamic Republic of Iran, uh, in the early hours of today that were targeted by the United States. And then, in response, the IRGC has targeted Ali Salin base in Kuwait and the fifth fleet in Salman port in Bahrain. And IRGC also claims that they have destroyed avoid them and decisively responded to the recent US attack. So here, uh, once again, this is the statement that is quite similar, but in a stronger language, but, uh, the similar emphasis on the Islamabad agreement, the memorandum for understanding. And so, in this statement, they're saying that according to the Islamabad memorandum for understanding, the arrangements for controlling the passage in the state of Hummus are with the Islamic Republic, and from now on, stronger action will be taken against violating ships than before. So, and even they saying that if the aggression from the United States is, uh, like last night and tonight, the aggressions are going to be, um, responded, uh, with a more in a harsher way, and the USA is going to receive a crushing response.
US President Donald Trump has commented on this latest escalation, posting the following on Truth Social:
"United States aircraft just struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites for violating the ceasefire agreement again. It is very possible that they will never learn. There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started. If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist."
Manuel Rapo is live for us in Washington DC.
Manuel, has there been any reactions now to Iran launching more attacks on US military locations in the Gulf?
P, we've been trying to get, uh, an idea of any sort of response right now from US officials regarding these, uh, what appears to be retaliatory strikes by Iran against its neighbors, uh, including Bahrain and Kuwait. The Reuters news agency reported that, uh, citing a US official here, that no casualties or major damage to US locations has so far been reported. Again, this is according to Reuters, in response to these latest strikes by Iran against neighbors Kuwait and Bahrain and US installations in those countries.
Regarding the statement that was posted to social media by President Trump, uh, following those attacks that were announced earlier on Saturday by US Central Command, uh, by the United States against, uh, targets inside of Iran, what stood out the most to me was the language, the rhetoric itself by President Trump. Uh, he is, uh, saying here specifically that US aircraft targeted Iranian missile and drone storage sites, as well as coastal, uh, radar facilities. This very much in line with that statement that was provided by US Central Command, saying that the US military strikes were in direct response to overnight drone strikes against a Panameanian flagged vessel, the MT Kiku, which was carrying more than 2 million barrels of oil here. That same statement says that this latest round of military action by the United States was because Tehran ignored an opportunity to uphold that ceasefire. Instead, choosing to continue to attack vessels along the straight of Hormuz. But again, the most significant aspect here of, uh, of the statement by President Trump is the language. It's the rhetoric. It's this warning and threat that President Trump is making, saying that it is Iran that has violated the ceasefire. And if this sort of behavior continues by Iran, the United States, uh, this is what the, the statement says, that President Trump says that the United States would no longer be, quote unquote, reasonable, and that Washington could be forced to militarily complete the job. So again, a fresh round of concerns over possible escalation here in the region, despite this, uh, delicate ceasefire in this memorandum that's of understanding that's been signed between the United States and Iran.
Maravel, a Democratic Congressman Roa says these strikes are indeed a blatant violation of the war powers resolution that the Senate passed. Sentcom's statement clearly says that the strikes were at the commander-in-chief's direction. So, can he now just sort of bypass the Senate's votes and continue striking Iran without asking Congress first?
It's a difficult question to answer. It's an important question here, and you're absolutely right that US Central Command made it absolutely abundantly clear that it was President Trump who ordered these strikes. But the short answer here is yes, at least within the argument, the legal argument of the White House here, which is that the president can order limited strikes without congressional approval. Obviously, critics, including, uh, this congressman who is saying that this is a violation of the wars power resolution, saying that only that, that it is because of the war powers resolution that any sort of further military action against Iran would need the specific explicit approval of Congress. Uh, this is an again an important question because this is something that is not necessarily resolved yet here in the United States and continues to be part of an ongoing debate between the White House and Congress over exactly, uh, who has the power. Constitution makes it very clear that it is in the hands of Congress to declare war. But the argument, again, the legal argument from the white house is that when it comes to limited strikes, the power, uh, does reside in the president to conduct these limited strikes in this capacity.
That's man live for us from Washington DC. Thank you so much, Manuel.
And Hassan Marian is an associate professor at the University of Tehran. He says the attacks could set off a domino effect of strikes between the US and Iran.
I think we're up for escalation because obviously the Iranians will retaliate. Uh, the United States, it seems that it doesn't want to observe the MOU that it signed just, uh, days ago because the MOU article 5 clearly says that Iran will make the arrangements for the safe passage of commercial ships. It gives Iran the ability to basically make the arrangements, and now the United States wants different arrangements in place as opposed to the MOU that it itself signed. After 60 days, Iran and Oman will make the arrangements, uh, as per the MOU. So what we see is the United States trying to find its way out of this, uh, memorandum of understanding while obliging Iran to its end of the terms of this memorandum of understanding. They, they did this also in Lebanon, going, you know, jumping over the, the deal, uh, by signing a new deal. I think the Iranians will not let go of this because obviously they want only commercial ships, according to the MOU, to pass through the strait. So any ship that doesn't coordinate might be a military one, might carry military stuff. The Iranians do not want this. There's a, there's a logic behind Iran insisting in the MOU that passage, safe passage, should be arranged by them, and there should be only commercial ships for the two months that they will be observing. So I don't see the Iranians, you know, uh, uh, uh, stopping. I, I see them actually escalating if the United States is to continue to escalate.