The battle over the Strait of Hormuz intensified in a conflict increasingly focused on control of the essential waterway.
Pro-government demonstrators gather at a square in Tehran, Friday, July 17, 2026. (AP)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, in a new statement warns of ‘unforgettable lessons’ if U.S. continues attacks.
The statement attributed to Khamenei, still unseen since the war began, was read out on state television.
He also called U.S. President Donald Trump’s signature “worthless and invalid,” after an Iranian negotiator earlier Saturday said Tehran was suspending its commitments to the interim deal signed by both countries about a month ago.
The deal was aimed at permanently ending the war.
Earlier today, the United States and Iran exchanged strikes aimed at infrastructure and military target as an Iranian negotiator said Tehran had suspended its commitments under the interim deal with the U.S. — snapping another fragile thread as the war shows no end in sight.
The battle over the Strait of Hormuz intensified in a conflict increasingly focused on control of the essential waterway that previously carried a fifth of the world’s crude oil. The widening strikes threatened civilians and services to them, including desalination plants for drinking water, while the global economy again was on alert.
The U.S. Central Command said early Saturday that its seventh straight night of strikes hit “surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities.”
The U.S. has violated its commitments under the deal that was signed about a month ago and now Iran is “no longer implementing them,” Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, told state TV.
There was no new word on mediation efforts.
US And Iran Trade Strikes Over Strait Of Hormuz. Kuwait Suffers Infrastructure Damage
