Last month's temporary truce between Washington and Tehran is unraveling as hostilities stretch into yet another week.
CENTCOM stated that it is now completely enforcing a naval embargo on Iranian ports. During the initial three days of the resumed blockade, American troops redirected four merchant ships, disabled one, and boarded another to guarantee adherence.
On Saturday, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi declared: "The United States has violated and suspended all of its commitments under the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding." "We have also suspended our commitments; we are not implementing them and are busy defending our country," he said.
Early Saturday, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that it had halted four ships trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz under U.S. escort. The IRGC Navy Command, as cited by Iran's IRNA News Agency, stated: "In a coordinated missile and drone operation, all four were halted and immobilized at sea."
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U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday in a primetime address: "We are likewise winning big in Iran, and you will see the fruits of that labor very, very shortly." President Trump had warned that if Iran did not come back to negotiations, he would target its bridges and power plants within a week.
The temporary accord aimed to restore navigation through the critical Strait of Hormuz and conclude the hostilities that started with American and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28. That agreement, brokered in Islamabad last month, was intended to de‑escalate a crisis that had already disrupted global shipping. But within days, both sides accused each other of violations, and the ceasefire collapsed, leading to the current round of U.S. strikes.
Crude prices saw a significant rise on Friday, driven by the persistent turmoil across the Middle East.
Kuwait said its air defenses were responding to hostile drone threats. It further reported that an Iranian strike on its power and water desalination facility sparked a blaze, though no one was injured. The country relies heavily on desalination for fresh water, meeting nearly 90% of its needs through seawater conversion plants.
Early Saturday, Bahrain's government stated that its air defenses had intercepted multiple Iranian missiles and activated warning sirens for residents.
According to Ian Lesser, a distinguished fellow at the Washington-based think tank GMF, there is a danger that the U.S. and Iran might become trapped in a "forever war." "I think in some sense this is misjudgment by the current administration. But it is also part of a pattern in the American approach to the use of force, that we have enormous capability and enormous operational prowess and we are hobbled by strategic mistakes," Lesser told CNBC.
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