ISTANBUL: Iran on Thursday (July 9) condemned recent United States (US) military strikes on its territory as a "war crime” and accused Washington of violating the memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war between the two sides, Anadolu Ajansi (AA) reported.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry denounced in a statement what it described as "aggressive attacks” by the US military on several sites in the country’s southern coastal provinces and on two railway bridges along the line leading to the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad.
The ministry said the attacks constituted "a grave war crime” and reaffirmed the Iranian people’s determination to defend the country’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and national security.
It said US attacks over the past 48 hours, which Washington said were in response to alleged attacks on commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday (July 7), violated Article 2(4) of the UN Charter.
The ministry also accused the US of breaching Articles 1 and 5 of the memorandum of understanding on ending the war, arguing that the strikes demonstrated Washington’s failure to comply with the agreement.
US Central Command said American forces had launched additional strikes against Iran to further degrade Tehran’s ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
The US has said its recent strikes targeted Iranian military infrastructure following reported attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran and the US reached a Pakistan-brokered memorandum of understanding on June 17 aimed at ending their military conflict and paving the way for a lasting peace agreement.
However, on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump declared that the memorandum was "over,” effectively ending the agreement and triggering a new round of military confrontation. — Bernama-Anadolu
