ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The US and Iran exchanged fire in the early hours of Wednesday, with the attacks targeting ports in southern Iran as well as US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, as Washington and Tehran accused each other of violating the peace deal.

Iranian state media reported in the early hours of Wednesday that six explosions were heard on Qeshm Island, near the port city of Bandar Abbas.

Soon after, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement that it had targeted more than 80 sites in “a new round of offensive strikes against Iran,” in response to Tehran’s earlier attack on Qatari and Saudi-flagged vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

Among the targets were “Iranian air defense systems, command and control networks, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile capabilities, and more than 60 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps small boats in and near the strait to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking international commerce flowing through the international trade corridor,” CENTCOM said. 

The US Treasury also moved to end the temporary suspension of restrictions on Iranian oil sales, a step Iran’s foreign ministry strongly condemned as “a gross violation” of the peace deal signed between the two sides, holding Washington responsible for “the consequences of this breach of promise.”

Tehran “will take any action it deems necessary to protect its interests and national security,” it said. The ministry described the move as “another sign of the ill intentions, instability and unreliability of the US ruling establishment.”

“The armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will give a crushing response to the aggression and terrorist act of America,” Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) affiliated Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said.

Tehran has repeatedly maintained that vessels using the Strait of Hormuz must travel through shipping lanes approved by Iranian authorities and provide prior notification before transiting the waterway. 

Reports of loud explosions surfaced soon after in Kuwait and Bahrain. Citing the early Wednesday attacks, the IRGC in a statement said its forces “through joint missile and drone operations, destroyed 85 important US military installations.”

The IRGC said it targeted the US Fifth Fleet in Port Salman, Bahrain, and Ali al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait, and shot down an American MQ-9 drone that it said was trying to interfere in the operation.

The Strait of Hormuz has remained a focal point of the US-Iran conflict since its outbreak in late February. 

Despite a fragile truce in place, the two sides have traded fire on several occasions, caused by tensions in Hormuz, with Washington accusing Tehran of attacking commercial ships navigating the strait. 

Iran and Oman announced the formation of a joint working group on June 23 to determine future administrative arrangements for the strait.