Iran says US violated peace deal as both sides trade fire

Iran on Saturday accused the United States of violating their deal to end the Middle East war, after Washington launched strikes on Iranian territory and Tehran responded with attacks on US targets in the Gulf.

The trading of fire, which came after Washington accused Tehran of attacking a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, raised doubts about efforts to keep the crucial waterway open while both sides negotiate a final deal.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the latest American strikes, which targeted Iranian missile and drone storage sites and coastal radar positions, were a response to "unwarranted aggression against commercial shipping by Iranian forces" that "clearly violated the ceasefire".

Iran said "these brutal attacks... are a blatant violation" of the deal to end the war, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.

Its Revolutionary Guards said they had struck US sites in the Gulf region and that "if the aggression is repeated, our response will be broader".

HA Hellyer of London's Royal United Services Institute think tank said "Iran is likely to continue calibrated, low-level coercive activity in and around the Strait of Hormuz... to create persistent pressure on international shipping without triggering a wider conflict".

He said November's US midterm elections create "incentives for a quicker agreement" for Washington, while for Iran, "a drawn-out negotiation accompanied by controlled pressure in the strait can work to its advantage".

Bahrain said it was targeted by several Iranian drones early on Saturday and accused Tehran of "sabotaging peace efforts".

Also on Saturday, British maritime security agency UKMTO said an "unidentified projectile" damaged an oil tanker in the strait.

On the US strikes, Iranian media reported an explosion at a pier in the southern city of Sirik late Friday. It quoted a military source saying a "projectile impact" caused the blast.

"Sirik Port is operating normally," Mehr news agency later said.

CENTCOM described the operation as "a powerful response to yesterday's attack on a commercial ship that was transiting the Strait of Hormuz".

US President Donald Trump had earlier denounced what he described as an Iranian drone strike on the vessel as "a foolish violation of our ceasefire agreement".

Vice President JD Vance said "violence will be met with violence" if Iran carries out any further attacks.

Iran has warned vessels not to enter or leave the Gulf through the strait without permission, but ships have continued to move, some using a route not authorised by Tehran.

Despite the latest flare-up, oil prices have fallen sharply on hopes that traffic through Hormuz -- through which around a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas travels -- would keep recovering.

In Lebanon, Israel's military said it carried out an airstrike on Saturday targeting suspected militants in the south -- the first such attack since Washington announced a framework agreement between the two countries.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March with rocket fire aimed at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes, and Israel responded with heavy airstrikes and a ground invasion.

Friday's agreement includes a pilot effort in which Lebanese soldiers take control of two areas occupied by Israel, and a process aimed at disarming Hezbollah.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the accord "begins to put in place a framework for lasting peace".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the agreement would allow Lebanon's army to return to two "pilot areas" in the south, but that Israeli forces would remain in their security zone until Hezbollah is disarmed. Displaced civilians would be prevented from returning.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun welcomed the unpublished framework as a "first step" towards civilians returning home "under the sovereignty of the Lebanese state".

Hezbollah's chief Naim Qassem on Saturday called the deal a "grave blunder" and accused Lebanon of "legitimising" the Israeli occupation.

The UN's nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, warned Friday that any final US-Iran settlement would need strong safeguards to ensure Tehran does not build a nuclear weapon.

Iran's nuclear programme remains a central sticking point, with Tehran and Washington giving conflicting accounts of whether inspectors will regain access to the Islamic republic's facilities.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said Iran had "declared quite clearly" it did not intend to develop nuclear weapons.

"But of course intentions are not enough. We have to have a very strong verification system in place... as soon as is practicable."

The interim agreement says Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium should be "downblended" under IAEA supervision.