* Iran says its strikes were response to US airstrikes

* US says its attack was a response to Iran's strike in

strait

* Each side says the other is violating interim ceasefire

* Bahrain condemns Iranian drone attack on its territory

* Israel, Lebanon sign peace agreement, Hezbollah not on

board

By Eman Abouhassira and Jana Choukeir

DUBAI/WASHINGTON, June 27 (Reuters) - Iran said it struck

targets linked to U.S. forces on Saturday in response to U.S.

airstrikes on its southern coast, as each side continued to

accuse the other of violating last week's agreement meant to end

the four-month-old war.

Iran's foreign ministry did not identify the locations of

its "defensive" attacks, which it said were a response to "the

barbaric air strikes" by the U.S. on its coastal surveillance

facilities, which it said also violated the U.N. Charter.

Later, Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet,

condemned what it said was an Iranian drone attack on its

territory as a flagrant violation of its sovereignty and a

threat to its security, adding that it reserved the right to

defend itself.

Washington did not immediately respond to Iran's report of

striking American targets, a tactic that has sought to undermine

U.S. allies in the region during the conflict.

The U.S. military said its strikes on Friday had been a response

to an Iranian drone strike on a cargo ship in the Strait of

Hormuz, a waterway vital to global energy supplies.

IRAN ASSERTS CONTROL OVER VITAL STRAIT

In one separate development, Israel and Lebanon signed an

agreement to end the fighting between Israel and Iran-backed

Hezbollah. Both sides said the deal was an initial step that

calls for Hezbollah to disarm and Israel to withdraw troops from

Lebanon, but it was not clear how it would be enforced.

Hezbollah said it would not cooperate.

Iranian state television said the country's Revolutionary

Guards had delivered "a decisive response" after U.S. forces hit

a communications tower in the port city of Sirik. Iran's Mehr

news agency said the port was operating normally with no damage

reported to facilities or equipment.

Bahrain said Iran's continued attacks, despite regional and

international de-escalation efforts, were undermining peace and

regional stability. It also accused Tehran of breaching U.N.

Security Council Resolution 2817 and the June 17 Islamabad

memorandum of understanding.

After Thursday's strike on a cargo ship off Oman's coast,

Iran did not acknowledge responsibility. Instead, it asserted

its authority to regulate shipping through the Strait of Hormuz,

said vessels must comply with routes designated by Tehran,

warned Gulf states against siding with Washington, and said the

Iran-U.S. interim agreement gave it control over ship traffic

through the strategic waterway.

Ebrahim Azizi, the head of the Iranian parliament's national

security committee, said on Saturday that any violation of

Iran's shipping instructions through the strait would be met

decisively.

U.S. Central Command condemned what it said was Iran's

Thursday strike as "unwarranted aggression against commercial

shipping", adding the U.S. would continue to provide "safe

passage coordination and support" to commercial vessels

transiting the strait - the conduit of one-fifth of the world's

oil and LNG supplies before the U.S. and Israel launched the war

on February 28.

'VIOLENCE WILL BE MET WITH VIOLENCE,' VANCE SAYS

Vice President JD Vance, once seen as a sceptic on U.S.

intervention in Iran but now a point person for President Donald

Trump on the conflict, said the Americans have adhered to the

ceasefire deal, also known as a memorandum of understanding.

"Iran signed a ceasefire agreement. We have honored 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,"

Vance said on X.

Before the renewed outbreak of violence, oil prices fell about

3% on Friday, on course for steep weekly losses as oil tankers

have exited the Strait of Hormuz.

Saudi Aramco resumed crude loadings at its Ras Tanura terminal

in the Gulf, the world's biggest oil port, after a nearly

four-month halt, shipping data showed. Fertilizer shipments

through the strait have also picked up, helping to assuage

concerns about a spike in global food prices.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio - wrapping up a tour of the

Gulf to reassure regional allies about the interim pact - issued

a joint statement with the Gulf Cooperation Council calling for

"free, unconditional, and unrestricted navigation" in the strait

without tolls or "attempts to assert control."

Iran's foreign ministry said the strait should be governed

by Iran and Oman, while Ali Akbar Velayati, top adviser to

Iran's supreme leader, warned Washington's Gulf allies their

survival depended on Tehran's tolerance.