Iran Officially Buries Remains of Defunct Truce With US. Middle East Flare-up Swallows Civilian Infra Targets

Iran has said that the truce brokered in June to end the Middle East conflict has ended, effectively indicating that the strife-torn region is back in troubled waters.

"The US has violated and suspended all its commitments within the framework of the Islamabad MoU," the Fars news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, as saying on Saturday. Gharibabadi, who participated in the technical talks in Switzerland earlier this month, said Tehran has also "suspended all our own commitments" and the implementation of the ceasefire agreement.

Fars claims to be an independent media outlet, but is widely considered to be closely associated with Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The announcement came as Tehran said at least 50 people have been killed and more than 500 injured the US-led strikes. Saturday also marked the seventh consecutive night of US strikes, which began after a eproted Iranian attack on a commercial vessel in the contentious Strait of Hormuz.

The attacks, which also marked a targeting of civilian infrastructure by the warring parties, also left 10,000 people without water after a desalination plant was hit, Iran said.
It retaliated by launching another wave of drones and missiles at US-allied Gulf states.
Iran's retaliation also targeted civilian infrastructure, a war crime under international humanitarian law.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei slammed Washington for violating every aspect of the agreement over the last week.

Fars quoted Baghaei as claiming that Iran had only defended itself in the "imposed" war. The comments come as the war shows no end in sight – with the battle over the Strait of Hormuz intensifying, the global economy on high alert, and widening strikes threatening civilians and services, including desalination plants for drinking water.

US President Donald Trump declared at the NATO summit in Ankara earlier this month that the memorandum of understanding signed in mid-June by Washington and Tehran was "over." Trump also ordered reimposition of a naval blockade on Iranian ports and revoked a sanctions waiver on Iranian oil exports. The steps followed Iran's attacks on commercial vessels crossing the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran's closure of the Strait had spurred a rally in oil prices, which rose to as high as $120 a barrel after the conflict first erupted late in February.

Though a temporary truce in June cooled oil prices, renewed hostilities centered around Hormuz, a chokepoint through which a fifth of world's oil and energy shipments passed before the conflict began.

The mediators in the Middle East conflict, including Pakistan and Qatar, have also remained mum despite the recent flare-up in the volatile region.