Iran closes Strait of Hormuz again as 16 killed in fresh Israeli strikes in Lebanon

Posted on by Taiwo Adebulu

2 min readJun 20, 2026 07:28 PM IST

Iran’s top joint military command on Saturday announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz once again, accusing the United States of violating commitments under the recently signed US-Iran memorandum of understanding and citing continued Israeli military operations in southern Lebanon.

In a statement carried by Iranian state television, the military command said the closure was in response to Washington’s “clear breach of trust” and failure to implement the first clause of the agreement, as well as Israel’s alleged violations of a ceasefire in Lebanon, news agency Associated Press reported. The statement described the closure as a “first step” and warned that “if the aggression continues, subsequent steps have been planned.”

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The announcement came as attacks intensified in southern Lebanon despite reports of a ceasefire. Israeli strikes on Saturday killed at least 16 people, including two children, while Hezbollah accused Israel of repeatedly violating the truce, the AP report added. Israel, meanwhile, said Hezbollah had launched more than 50 projectiles overnight, prompting strikes on what it described as militant targets.

Earlier in the day, US Vice President JD Vance said there was “no evidence” that Iran was preparing to shut the Strait of Hormuz.

Meanwhile, Vance has also said he expects to travel to Switzerland for talks with Iran “in the next couple of days”, Al Jazeera reported.

This signals that Washington still hopes to move forward with negotiations.

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