Escalating US-Iran strikes threaten interim peace agreement | Iran

Escalating attacks between Iran and the United States have continued, further undermining the fragile interim peace agreement between the two countries and prompting Donald Trump to threaten violence that would ensure Iran “will no longer exist.”

Tehran on Sunday launched drone and missile attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait and threatened a “complete halt” in talks to end the war, following new US strikes on southern Iran. Trump said there may soon come a time when he abandons talks and the US will “finish the job militarily.”

The US president posted on social media: “If this happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!”

Kuwait, which hosts a major US military base, said two ballistic missiles were intercepted and there were no reports of injuries or damage, while Bahrain’s interior ministry said Iranian strikes damaged a residential building near the international airport and no one was killed.

The latest violence was triggered by efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping without direct Iranian oversight. The strategically critical waterway, which before the war carried one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquid gas resources, has long been viewed as an international transit route.

U.S. Central Command said in a statement that the attacks were “a direct response to Iran’s ongoing aggression against commercial shipping” and targeted Iran’s military surveillance, communications, air defense, drone storage and mine-laying facilities.

Washington promotes southern strip along Oman coast; Tehran, which ultimately aims to charge for the use of the strait, wants the ships to use the northern route through its own waters and under its control.

Since the start of the war, hundreds of ships, including oil-laden tankers, have been blockaded in the Gulf due to the closure of the strait. Some left the transition in the last two weeks to chance, causing oil prices to approach pre-war levels and bringing relief to economies around the world.

The US military accused Iran of violating the ceasefire on Saturday by attacking the Panama-flagged tanker Kiku, which was carrying crude oil for Qatar’s state energy company. According to ship tracking sites, Kiku appears to be trying to use the southern corridor near the Omani coast.

Last week, a Singapore-flagged container ship was shot down by an Iranian drone while passing through the same route.

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi reiterated Tehran’s claim that it has sole control of the waterway during an official visit to Iraq on Sunday. “Any intervention in this matter, any attempt to create new or different regulations from those currently operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran, will only lead to further complications, delay the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and increase the level of tension,” he said in Baghdad.

Observers say Iran is using its ability to threaten shipping in the strait not only as leverage in negotiations with the United States, but also to intimidate neighboring countries and establish a more dominant role in the region.

Aragchi also called for the creation of a security framework that would exclude the Gulf countries and the United States. “We must reach a new framework that includes all countries in the region, without the presence or intervention of any country outside the region,” he said.

Mediators from Qatar and Pakistan successfully brought representatives from Washington and Tehran together in Switzerland earlier this month but failed to bridge wide gaps on contentious issues such as the future of the Strait of Hormuz, easing sanctions on Tehran and the future of Iran’s nuclear program. Under the memorandum of understanding signed earlier this month, the two countries have 60 days to work out the details before signing the final agreement.

Leaders in Tehran and Washington face domestic political pressure to prevent a resumption of hostilities and appear committed to a ceasefire for now, despite frequent bellicose rhetoric.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed responsibility for both attacks on Sunday. It said: “Let the enemy know that any violation of the ceasefire will lead to a complete halt of ongoing processes.”

The Revolutionary Guard, which controls Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal, has gained influence in Iran in recent months. Navy command said American bases in the region “will experience hell in the coming days.”

Bahrain’s foreign ministry condemned the attacks, calling them “a dangerous escalation that reveals what Tehran has done is not a temporary action or an isolated incident, but rather a deliberate approach and a repeated pattern of systematic attacks against the sovereignty of the kingdom and the security of its citizens and residents.”

Bahrain is home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, whose base was repeatedly attacked during the war.

Violence continued in Lebanon, further threatening the agreement between Iran and the United States to end their respective conflicts.

Israeli military officials said a soldier was killed on Sunday when soldiers encountered “a Hezbollah terrorist after entering a suspicious structure in the Deir Seryan area of ​​southern Lebanon.”

Lebanon’s state news agency reported that Israel launched a new attack targeting the outskirts of the towns of Deir Seryan and Taybeh in southern Lebanon.

The new clashes in Lebanon come two days after Israel and Lebanon signed an agreement aimed at ending hostilities. The agreement calls for Israeli forces to begin withdrawing first from the south of the country and replace them with Lebanese armed forces, which will assume responsibility for local security and dismantle Hezbollah’s military infrastructure.

They will also undermine the possibility of a lasting peace agreement between the United States and Iran, which Tehran insists is committed to a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Israel, which is not a party to the US agreement with Iran, invaded southern Lebanon in March with a new attack against Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran.

Israel and Lebanon have repeatedly agreed to ceasefires through the United States, most recently on Friday, but these have had limited effect; Israel has insisted it will not withdraw from captured Lebanese territory, and Hezbollah has repeatedly rejected calls to lay down its arms as long as Israeli troops remain in place.

With news from Reuters and Associated Press