Iran launches missile and drone attacks on US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain following Donald Trump’s warning
Tala Ramadan, Eman Abouhassira And Phil Stewart
Updated ,first published
Dubai/Washington: Iran launched missiles and drones at US military facilities in Kuwait and Bahrain, shortly after US President Donald Trump threatened to destroy Iran’s leadership if they did not adhere to an interim agreement to end their war.
But American news site Axios reported early on Monday (AEST), citing a senior US official, that the US and Iran had agreed to stop attacking each other. The two sides plan to meet in Qatar’s capital Doha on Tuesday to resolve the dispute over the Strait of Hormuz. Axis declared. There was no confirmation from Iran or the White House.
The US military said on Sunday it had struck Iran again, hours after a tanker was hit in the strait, the world’s most important energy shipping route that Tehran has largely closed down for most of the conflict.
“There may come a point when we can no longer be reasonable and will have to complete militarily the job we have so successfully begun,” Trump said on social media.
“If this happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!” he said.
Also Sunday, Israel said it had struck Iran-backed armed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, just a day after signing the latest ceasefire agreement with Lebanon, calming hostilities that Iran said had to end for the broader deal to continue.
The purpose of the 14-article interim peace agreement was to stop the conflict that started between the USA and Israel on February 28 and to reopen the strait while negotiations continue on issues such as Iran’s nuclear program.
A member of the Office for the Preservation and Publication of the Works of Iran’s Supreme Leader told state television (AEST) on Monday morning that Iran is not participating in technical talks scheduled for Sunday due to recent attacks on the country and unfulfilled conditions of the Memorandum of Understanding with the United States.
“For example, one of the reasons is to check whether we have access to unfrozen funds, if there is no access, this condition is not met,” said Mehdi Fazaeili.
A round of mediation talks led by Vice President J.D. Vance and Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, were held in Switzerland a week ago and Washington waived sanctions on Tehran, but fighting has since resumed and intensified.
About an hour after Trump’s post on Sunday, Kuwait’s military said its air defenses were responding to missile and drone attacks, while Bahrain said its sirens were blaring there.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement that its navy and air forces launched missile and unmanned aerial vehicle operations targeting US military facilities in Kuwait and Bahrain.
State-run Press TV said the Guard said the US strikes violated the ceasefire and “will result in a complete halt of all diplomatic processes.” The Revolutionary Guard naval command said American bases in the region “will experience hell in the coming days.”
A US official, who confirmed that Iran targeted US facilities, told Reuters that no US casualties or major damage to its facilities in the Middle East were reported, but the situation was still ongoing.
Hours later, alarms sounded a second time in Bahrain, where officials said an Iranian attack damaged a residential building in Muharraq province and no casualties were reported. Bahrain called on the United Nations Security Council to hold an emergency session to hold Iran accountable.
The Kuwaiti army announced that two ballistic missiles were destroyed without any damage or loss of life. Separately, Qatar said one of its citizens had died after being injured by shrapnel from a ship that went missing on Saturday. The interior ministry said, without specifying the location or apportioning blame, that a second person was injured in the incident, which occurred due to “military operations in the region.”
US Central Command said its forces carried out the new strikes after a Panamanian-flagged tanker was attacked by an Iranian drone on Saturday.
“Iran was given the chance to comply with the ceasefire agreement but chose not to,” Central Command said in a statement.
It was stated that the US strikes 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.
Iranian state television IRIB said explosions were heard in Sirik in southern Iran, without giving details. “America’s blind shots at Sirik will not eliminate our dominance over the Strait of Hormuz. However, our shots against violators will remind other ships of the open passage route,” the guards said. The tanker attack in the Bosphorus on Saturday followed the attack on a cargo ship on Thursday, which triggered the latest tension.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said the responsibility for restoring maritime traffic in the strait to pre-war levels rested solely with Tehran and urged others not to interfere with “Iran’s management of the strait.” While Washington is promoting a southern route along the Omani coast, Tehran, which ultimately aims to charge for use of the strait, wants ships to use the northern route through its waters and under its control.
Hundreds of ships stranded in the strait, including oil-laden tankers that carried a fifth of global oil and LNG supplies before the conflict, have caused oil prices to approach pre-war levels in the past two weeks.
Even as attacks continued on Sunday morning, CMA CGM’s Galapagos container ship emerged from the strait in what the shipping giant described as “an important milestone in a regional context that remains complex and requires continued attention.”
Israel said it killed Hezbollah militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades in Lebanon on Sunday and shot down a rocket launcher in the Nabatieh area.
The Israeli military also destroyed underground infrastructure used by Hezbollah in a village in southern Lebanon, according to a joint statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz on Monday (AEST).
According to the statement, the USA was informed before the attack targeting the 200-meter tunnel in the town of Majdal Zoun. The Israeli statement stated that the tunnel contained hundreds of weapons and launchers.
There was no immediate response from Hezbollah.
Israel and Lebanon, which are not parties to the US-Iran deal, have repeatedly agreed to US-brokered ceasefires, most recently on Friday.
But these had only a limited impact; 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.
US ally Israel invaded in March after Hezbollah attacked in support of Iran.
Araqchi said that Israel’s withdrawal and stopping its attacks in Lebanon were required by the interim agreement with the United States and that it was Washington’s responsibility to stop its operations.
Reuters
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