JD Vance says 'violence will be met with violence' as US conducts 'tit-for-tat' strikes against Iran

Shortly after US strikes on Iranian targets, Vice President JD Vance warned on Friday that his country will deal with "violence with violence". The American strike came in retaliation for an Iranian drone attack on a cargo ship that was passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

In light of this, the American vice president took to his social media platform to warn Iran against such aggressions in the future. “Iran signed a ceasefire agreement. We have honoured it. If they have disagreements about how the MOU is being applied, they can pick up the phone. But violence will be met with violence," he wrote in a post on his X account.

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The remarks from Vance came right after the US said that it had struck Iran in a tit-for-tat response to a drone strike on a cargo ship that targeted multiple missile and drone facilities in Iran near the Strait of Hormuz, amid the ceasefire between the US and Iran that reopened the strait. In a statement on Friday, the US Cetcom said that the American military strikes targeted multiple missile and drone facilities in Iran near the Strait of Hormuz and on Qeshm Island.

The US struck “Iranian missile and drone storage locations”, US Central Command (Centcom) said, in what it called a “powerful response” to the Iranian strike on the M/V Ever Lovely. However, the American military maintained that it would continue to enforce the shaky ceasefire with Iran even as disagreements have emerged over the terms of Iran’s nuclear programme, the question of tolls in the Strait of Hormuz, and other thorny questions, including Iran’s ballistic missiles programme, remain unanswered. The The The

The US upped its ante

The American military noted that while the latest operation has come to an end, it will continue to remain vigilant in the region. “The US military remains present and vigilant to ensure all aspects of the agreement with Iran are adhered to, obeyed, and in full force and effect,” Centcom said.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump reiterated that Iran's earlier drone attack violated the ceasefire. The strikes came shortly after Trump told reporters, “you’ll find out” whether the US would respond. The US president also called the attack a “foolish violation” of the ceasefire.

“I don’t like the fact that they took a shot yesterday, actually four of them,” Trump said shortly before the US strikes on Friday. Meanwhile, Iran's  Revolutionary Guards ⁠said ⁠it ​targeted US military positions in ⁠the region, in response to a fresh ⁠US strike against ​Iran.

However, the Iranian side did not provide details of the American positions targeted in the recent strikes. Ebrahim Azizi, a senior Iranian security official, said that Iran was not seeking to escalate the conflict. “This is not a violation of the ceasefire; it is ceasefire management,” Azizi wrote. Overall, the tensions remain ripe in the region.