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The latest strikes come in an effort to degrade Iran's ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the Strait of Hormuz, CENTCOM said

The US has launched a fresh wave of attacks on Iran to hold the country "accountable", further diminishing hope that a peace deal will soon be reached.

The US Central Command said on the evening of Sunday, July 12 that it had started launching attacks in an effort to degrade the Middle Eastern country's ability to attack ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

CENTCOM wrote in a post on X: "At 5 p.m. ET today, U.S. Central Command forces began launching more strikes against Iran to continue degrading their ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

"The Commander in Chief has directed the strikes to hold Iranian forces accountable."

The US and Iran have been in bouts of conflict since February 28, when joint US-Israeli strikes were carried out on several key Iranian sites.

Iran retaliated by closing the critical Strait of Hormuz trade route, through which 20% of all global oil traded passes.

The Mirror earlier on Sunday reported that the US has struck more than 100 sites in Iran following a missile attack on a vessel in the strait.

The container ship's crew was forced to abandon it while it was ablaze, while Iran carried out strikes on targets in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman in a chilling escalation.

In a separate statement, CENTCOM said it hit around 140 targets, targeting missile and drone launch sites, ammunition dumps and communication equipment.

The ceasefire agreement fell through last week, dimming any hopes the conflict might be brought to an end.

Last Tuesday, Mr Trump said the deal was cancelled after Tehran's missile attacks on three gas and oil vessels in the Strait of Hormuz at the start of the week.

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