CNN: The U.S. Launching Powerful Strikes Is a Reminder to Iran After They Have Broken the Ceasefire Twice
EXCERPT:
HOLMES: "Well, right now, in terms of on-the-record, Anderson, they‘re just pointing to this post from Central Command, in which they generally just say that the forces have begun launching a series of powerful strikes — that‘s key here — against Iran to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway. That‘s important because it goes back to what we had heard from a U.S. official that you just mentioned, that this was not proportional response. This was intentionally not a proportional response. For the first time, this was a punishment response. And you can see a clear ramp-up here. One, we saw earlier tonight this re-imposement of sanctions on Iran selling oil. This was considered a big deal. We thought this was the sole retaliation, particularly given the fact that President Trump is currently in Turkey, a country that borders Iran, a country that has intercepted at least one ballistic missile from Iran during this conflict. So we thought it was just going to be that. Then you see this escalation in attacks by the United States. We are hearing that this seems to be the U.S. sending a message to Iran, because this is the second time Iran has broken the ceasefire. And just a reminder, as part of this 60 day ceasefire and this memorandum of understanding, Iran is supposed to escort as much as they can, safely, commercial vessels. That, in return, gets sanctions lifted, as well as the blockade removed from the Strait of Hormuz. Now, of course, we‘ve seen two times — this is the second time Iran has gone after commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.S. is responding in kind or more than in kind with these 'punishments' to Iran. The big question, how this all plays out tomorrow, particularly as we see these leaders who already opposed the war meeting together with Trump and trying to create some kind of unity. This is clearly now going to be the focal point."
