The New York Times reports:

The United States carried out airstrikes against several targets in Iran on Tuesday, hours after revoking a waiver allowing the sale of Iranian oil around the world, in a dual response to what the Pentagon said were Iranian attacks on three commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

The military’s Central Command said on social media that U.S. forces “have begun launching a series of powerful strikes against Iran to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway.”

The attacks on the commercial ships, including a Saudi oil tanker and a Qatari liquefied natural gas carrier in waters off the coast of Oman, threatened to disrupt the resumption of energy supplies from the region and derail the preliminary accord between Washington and Tehran to reopen the strategic waterway.

“Iran’s demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the cease-fire,” Central Command said in a statement on social media.

Tehran has not claimed responsibility for the ship attacks, and there was no immediate public comment from the authorities in Iran, where a dayslong program of funeral ceremonies is underway for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader who was killed on the first day of the war. Negotiations between Iran and the United States have been paused until after the funeral. [Continue reading…]