AGENCIES

Iran accused the United States of breaching their ceasefire yesterday and warned it was ready to retaliate after overnight US strikes targeting Iranian missile sites and mine-laying boats threatened a deal to end the war.

The Brent benchmark oil price jumped up by almost three percent after US Central Command announced the new wave of bombings, and China urged both sides to respect the truce and to resolve their dispute peacefully.

According to the maritime safety monitor UKMTO, a blast damaged a tanker on the waterline off Oman -- although the crew and vessel were reportedly safe after what was described as an “external explosion”.

Iranian state media reported overnight blasts in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, near the Strait of Hormuz, and the country’s Revolutionary Guards Corps said its forces had downed a US drone entering its airspace and had fired at an F-35 fighter jet.

“The US terrorist army, continuing its illegal and unjustified actions since the ceasefire ... has, in the past 48 hours, committed a gross violation of the ceasefire in the Hormozgan region,” the Iranian foreign ministry said.

It added that Tehran “will not leave any evil unanswered and will not hesitate to defend the Iranian nation,” without elaborating.

In a statement marking the start of the Eid al-Azha holiday, Tehran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei declared that He

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