Oil Tanker Struck In Strait Of Hormuz
An tanker in the Strait of Hormuz was struck by an "unidentified projectile," British shipping-security monitor United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on June 27, after the first exchange of fire between the United States and Iran since they signed a framework agreement to end the recent Middle East war.
UKMTO said the tanker sustained damage to its bridge, but that "all crew are reported safe." It also said that there was "No environmental damage reported at present."
Maritime security firm Vanguard Tech has identified the vessel as the Panama-flagged oil tanker KIKU.
With reporting by AFP
Bahrain Reports Iranian Drone Attack After US Strikes
Bahrain says that it had come under an Iranian drone attack hours after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said it had struck US-linked targets in the region.
Bahrain's Foreign Ministry said on June 27 that several drones targeted at the Persian Gulf country at dawn, describing the attack as a "flagrant violation of the Gulf kingdom's sovereignty." The ministry did not identify the target or report any damage.
The ministry said "the Iranian regime’s continued attacks" at a time of regional and international efforts to reduce tensions placed "the sole responsibility for undermining peace efforts on Tehran."
The reported attack came after the US military said it had struck Iranian missile, drone, and radar sites in response to what Washington said was an Iranian drone attack on a commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps said it had retaliated by attacking US-linked targets in the region, without identifying them.
Hours before the reported attack on Bahrain, US Vice President JD Vance wrote on X that "Iran signed a ceasefire agreement. We have honored it."
He added that if Tehran had disagreements over how the memorandum of understanding -- a framework agreement reached earlier this month to end hostilities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz -- was being implemented, "they can pick up the phone," warning that "violence will be met with violence."
The latest exchanges marked the first military strikes since Washington and Tehran signed the framework agreement on June 17.
With reporting by dpa
Iran's Year-On-Year Inflation Nears 90%
Iran's year-on-year inflation rate climbed to 88.6 percent in June, while annual inflation rose to 62 percent, according to figures published by the country's Statistical Center on June 27.
The annual inflation rate was up 4.3 percentage points from May.
Year-on-year inflation compares consumer prices with the same month a year earlier. The Statistics Center said Iranian households paid, on average, 88.6 percent more in June than they did a year previously for the same basket of goods and services.
Inflation was even higher in rural areas, where the year-on-year rate exceeded 108 percent, according to the data.
Nationwide, prices for food, beverages, and tobacco were 134.6 percent higher than a year earlier.
Iran's economy has been battered by conflict, international sanctions, and longstanding structural problems.
The figures come after a year marked by a 12-day war with Israel, the January anti-government protests, and a 40-day conflict with the United States and Israel, all of which have added to economic pressures alongside longstanding corruption and sanctions.
In June, a senior Interior Ministry official said 60 percent of Iranians could no longer bear additional economic hardship and had lost hope that conditions would improve.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Farda
Iran Accuses US Of Violating Peace Deal, Claims Retaliatory Strikes
Iran has accused the United States of violating the peace agreement that ended their recent conflict, after US forces carried out strikes on Iranian military targets.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry claimed on June 27 that the attacks on coastal surveillance facilities were a "blatant violation" of the recent memorandum of understanding between the two countries as well as of the UN Charter.
The US military said it had struck Iranian missile and drone storage sites and coastal radar installations on June 26 in response to an Iranian attack on a cargo ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
Tehran said it had retaliated by striking targets linked to US forces, but did not identify the targets or their location.
With reporting by AFP and Reuters
Iran's Hard-Line Preachers Split Over Deal With Washington
The debate over Iran's potential agreement with the United States has spilled beyond the country's political class and into the religious establishments and street gatherings that have long served as the Islamic republic's most loyal base of support.
Since the outbreak of war and the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes, state-aligned clerics and eulogists have played an outsized role in rallying public support for the Islamic republic and armed forces through nightly gatherings in Tehran's squares and religious pulpits across the country.
But as a preliminary memorandum of understanding with Washington has taken shape, that same base has begun to show fissures and the significance of these divisions runs deeper than a dispute over a single agreement.
For years, the religious pulpit and the street gathering were among the most reliable instruments of political mobilization available to the Islamic republic.
Now, amid a landmark diplomatic process, those same instruments are amplifying the state’s internal contradictions -- at a moment when its new supreme leader has yet to appear in public or be heard on camera at all.
Read more here
Saudi Aramco Resumes Crude Loading At Ras Tanura Terminal
Saudi Aramco on June 26 resumed oil loadings at its Ras Tanura terminal after a halt of nearly four months, according to shipping data, as it joined a rush to move cargo as the industry hangs to hopes of a return to normality.
Saudi-based Aramco is the world's largest oil exporter and one of the most profitable.
The Saudi crude loadings come even as violence returned to the region on June 26 and early June27, with US forces striking several Iranian sites in response to Tehran's reported targeting of commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday.
Global oil prices fell declined more than $1 a barrel on June 26 after edging up on the reports of the attack on the commercial cargo ship.
Two Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) controlled by Saudi's shipping arm, Bahri, were seen loading crude at Ras Tanura, the world's biggest oil port. Another VLCC was heading toward the terminal, the data showed. A fourth VLCC was waiting nearby.
Each VLCC has a capacity of 2 million barrels of oil.
Tankers transporting oil from the United Arab Emirates transited the strait on June 26, with two laden VLCCs exiting and one heading to Zirku port, data showed.
With reporting by Reuters
US Forces Strike Iran In Response to Tehran's Attack On Hormuz Shipping
The US military said it conducted strikes against Iranian sites in response to Tehran's attack on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, in the latest threat to the fragile cease-fire agreed to by Washington and Tehran.
"US Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted strikes against Iran, June 26, as a powerful response to yesterday’s attack on a commercial ship that was transiting the Strait of Hormuz," the military said on social media.
The statement came shortly after US President Donald Trump told reporters "You'll find out" when asked about a potential US response to Iran's reported drone strikes on June 25 against cargo ships in the strait.
In a social media post before the strike was announced, Trump wrote that Iran had fired four drones at commercial shipping in the strait.
"One of the Drones solidly hit the upper deck of a large and very expensive Cargo Carrying Ship. Damage was done, but the Ship was able to proceed on its way. We knocked down three other Drones," Trump wrote.
In a post on X, US Vice President JD Vance said "violence will be met with violence."
"Iran signed a cease-fire agreement. We have honored it. If they have disagreements about how the MOU is being applied, they can pick up the phone. But violence will be met with violence," he wrote.
Iran and the US are set to resume technical negotiations in Switzerland following the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) designed to end the war in Iran and throughout the Middle East, including Lebanon. The cease-fire has remained fragile, with all sides accusing the other of violations.
Iranian state media said a projectile struck the area around a pier in Sirik in the south of Iran, a region hit regularly by US forces.
In response, Iran's hard-line Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said its navy had attacked US military targets in the region, state media reported, although the information could not be independently verified.
The strait had earlier been blocked by Iran but was reopened in recent days while Tehran and Washington attempt to negotiate a last peace deal.
CENTCOM said US warplanes struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar stations after Tehran struck the Singapore-flagged M/V Ever Lovely cargo ship on June 25 with a one-way attack drone.
"The unwarranted aggression against commercial shipping by Iranian forces clearly violated the cease-fire. Furthermore, Iran’s dangerous behavior undermined freedom of navigation as commerce increasingly flows through the vital international trade corridor," it said.
It said CENTCOM forces "continue to provide safe passage coordination and support to commercial vessels transiting the strait."
A senior US official told RFE/RL that six US aircraft carried out strikes on four targets inside Iran, including radar installations and missile and drone storage facilities in the coastal area of Sirik.
The official said the targets were located along Iran’s southern coast near the Strait of Hormuz and on Qeshm Island, the official added.
On June 26, the Iranian Foreign Ministry warned that safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz cannot be ensured without coordination with Tehran.
Freedom of navigation through the strait has become one of the central issues in efforts to secure a lasting agreement between the US and Iran after Tehran effectively closed the waterway following US-Israeli air strikes earlier this year. Some 20 percent of the world's oil and gas supplies flowed through the strait prewar.
Several previous similar incidents have occurred during the cease-fire period, but the sides vowed to maintain the overall truce.
Trump Says Iran Attacked Ships In Strait Of Hormuz
US President Donald Trump said Iran fired at least four drones at ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, calling it a "foolish violation" of the cease-fire agreement between Washington and Tehran.
"One of the Drones solidly hit the upper deck of a large and very expensive Cargo Carrying Ship. Damage was done, but the Ship was able to proceed on its way. We knocked down three other Drones," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on June 26.
Later, when asked by reporters if Iran would face any actions because of the reported attacks on Hormuz shipping, Trump said: "You'll find out," without elaborating.
Taiwanese shipping operator Evergreen Marine said one of its container ships was struck by an "unidentified object" while transiting the strategic waterway on June 25, but that the crew, vessel, and cargo were "unharmed."
It was not immediately clear if Trump's comments referred to that incident.
On June 26, the Iranian Foreign Ministry warned that safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz cannot be ensured without coordination with Tehran.
Freedom of navigation through the strait has become one of the central issues in efforts to secure a lasting agreement between the United States and Iran after Tehran effectively closed the waterway following US-Israeli air strikes earlier this year.
Tehran, US Open Direct Communication Channel On Hormuz, Says Iranian State Media
Press TV, the English-language broadcaster of Iranian state television, has reported that Iran and the United States have established a "communication line" on the Strait of Hormuz to help prevent incidents that could escalate into military confrontation.
The report published on June 26 came one day after US Vice President JD Vance said Washington and Tehran planned to establish such a channel in Qatar.
Speaking to the website UnHerd, Vance said Iran had agreed to "send somebody from the [Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps] to go hang out in Doha with somebody from [US Central Command]" and indicated that this was "how we're going to settle a lot of these disputes."
Citing what it called an informed source, Press TV said the line of communication had been established in order "to prevent incidents in Strait of Hormuz that might lead to military confrontation and to implement the provisions of paragraph 5 of Islamabad MoU."
Article 5 of the Pakistan-mediated framework agreement between Tehran and Washington calls for Iran and Oman to discuss the future administration and maritime services in the Strait of Hormuz, in consultation with the other Persian Gulf littoral states.
Tehran claims this requires coordination with Iran before alternative shipping arrangements are introduced.
Earlier on June 26, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said safe passage for vessels through the Strait of Hormuz "cannot be guaranteed" without coordination with the Iranian government, warning that designated shipping routes could be suspended if such coordination does not take place.
Iran Warns Hormuz Passage Requires Coordination With Tehran
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi has warned that safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz cannot be ensured without coordination with Tehran, as tensions persist over control of one of the world's most important shipping lanes.
"Safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz cannot be guaranteed under ambiguous arrangements, parallel routes, or decision-making outside of Iran's considerations as a coastal state," Gharibabadi wrote on X on June 26.
He added that "any credible framework must be based on coordination with Iran and the provisions of Article 5 of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding," warning that otherwise "the designated parallel route will be suspended."
Article 5 of the June 17 framework agreement between Tehran and Washington calls for Iran and Oman to discuss the future administration and maritime services in the Strait of Hormuz, in consultation with the other Persian Gulf littoral states. Tehran claims this requires coordination with Iran before alternative shipping arrangements are introduced.
Gharibabadi's comments came after Oman announced on June 24 a temporary shipping route through the strait in coordination with the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the UN's maritime agency.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said on June 25 that safe passage would be possible only through routes approved by Tehran.