US President Donald Trump withdrew his threat to impose heavy taxes on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz but warned that he would expand US attacks on Iran next week to target power plants and bridges if Tehran does not agree to the peace agreement.
Next week things will be really bad for them because next week will be the power plants. Next week will be the bridges. We will destroy all their power plants. We will destroy all the bridges unless they sit down at the negotiating table" - AFP quoted Mr. Trump's sharing in an interview on Fox News.
On the social network Truth Social, Mr. Trump announced that he would cancel the plan to tax ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz that he announced on July 13, replacing this fee with trade agreements with Gulf allies.
I have decided to replace the 20% US Refund fee with trade and investment agreements that the Gulf countries will implement with the US," he shared.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said that the latest attacks are aimed at "weakening Iran's offensive capabilities against commercial ships" in the Strait of Hormuz, an important oil and gas transportation route in the Gulf, where Tehran has repeatedly attacked civilian ships.
Iranian state media reported on explosions near the port city of Bandar Abbas, on Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf near the Strait of Hormuz and other locations.
State news agency IRNA later said that Iranian forces launched drones to attack a military base in Jordan - where US fighter jets are stationed.
The new US naval blockade with Iran took effect at 8:00 PM GMT (3:00 AM on July 15, Vietnam time) - one hour after US attacks.
A senior Iranian official said that the US naval blockade has broken the agreement to temporarily suspend the conflict for peace negotiations.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said that the US decision to extend the blockade "in some way, broke the Islamabad memorandum".
Admiral Brad Cooper - head of CENTCOM - informed on July 14 that, in the past week, "Iran deliberately targeted civilians across the region when attacking 7 merchant ships, resulting in nearly ten civilian crew members killed, missing or injured".
Previously, on July 14, Iran said that a US attack targeted Qeshm, 4 locations in Bushehr - where Iran's only civilian nuclear power plant is located - as well as attacking Iran's border area near Iraq and Kuwait.
