After tit-for-tat strikes by US and Iran, Araghchi says any challenge to Hormuz routes will 'increase tensions'

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned on Sunday that any attempt to bypass the Strait of Hormuz routes agreed with the United States would “increase tensions” in the Middle East, as the countries traded attacks and accusations of violating a fragile ceasefire in the region. Araghchi’s warning came after the US military said it carried out new strikes on early Sunday on multiple targets in Iran, in response to a fresh attack on a ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran responded by launching strikes against US bases in Bahrain and Kuwait. The exchanges underscored the fragility of a Pakistan-brokered interim peace deal aimed at ending a war launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, which disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and rattled global energy markets. “Any attempt to adopt new or separate arrangements compared to what is underway by the Islamic Republic of Iran, will only lead to more complicated situations and delays in the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and will increase the tensions, as we witnessed in the past two nights,” Araghchi told a press conference in Baghdad later. During his visit to the Iraqi capital, Araghchi also called for the establishment of a security framework with Gulf countries, with Tehran and Washington accusing each other of violating the fragile truce that was meant to end the Middle East war. Araghchi called on all parties to “adhere to the memorandum of understanding and not to allow this MoU to deviate from its course”. Iran’s top diplomat said that “we should reach a new framework that includes all countries in the region and without the presence or interference of any country from outside the region”. This echoed a proposal put forward by Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier this week, who called for a new “regional security structure” among regional countries. He welcomed Iraq’s call to hold a meeting between the Gulf States, Iran and Iraq, which was drawn into the Middle East wa