The United States military launched retaliatory strikes against Iran at 5 p. m.
ET on Sunday, following intense missile and drone assaults by Tehran against US facilities across the Gulf region and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, as reported by The Guardian.
The operation aimed to halt ongoing disruptions to international commercial shipping.
US Central Command announced the deployment of forces to address the escalation, which has now spread to previously unaffected areas including Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
The escalating violence has disrupted recent diplomatic progress, throwing a newly signed interim US-Iranian agreement into jeopardy just a month after its inception.
US Military Objectives
US military officials detailed the objective of the operation in an official statement on Sunday afternoon: "to continue degrading their ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the strait of Hormuz."
US President Donald Trump commented on the military actions during a brief telephone interview later that afternoon. "We're beating them up," said Trump.
Iranian officials responded to the military actions on Monday morning, declaring that the western intervention had nullified recent peace talks, calling them "rendered futile."
The Iranian government further blamed western forces for the ongoing instability surrounding the critical maritime trade route.
"The US regime has also caused the return of insecurity in the strait of Hormuz and disruption of international commercial shipping by openly interfering in the process of Iran implementing the necessary arrangements in the strait of Hormuz," a foreign ministry statement said.
