Iran hits Kuwait, US strikes near Hormuz in Gulf flare-up
By Ahmed Elimam and Menna AlaaElDin
DUBAI, June 3 (Reuters) – Gulf hostilities reignited on Wednesday as Iranian attacks on Kuwait damaged the airport and injured dozens of people, the U.S. military carried out strikes near the Strait of Hormuz and diplomacy to stop the war showed little sign of progress.
The attacks are the latest to test a shaky ceasefire that has sent oil prices up nearly 2% as the strait remains largely closed more than three months after the United States and Israel launched an attack on Iran.
Flights at Kuwait International Airport were suspended after an Iranian drone and missile attack damaged airport facilities and diplomatic missions, killing one person and injuring more than 60, Kuwaiti officials and state media said.
The civil aviation authority said Kuwait Airways and Jazeera Airlines resumed flights after taking safety measures.
Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard said they did not fire on Kuwait airport and blamed the destruction on US interceptor missiles that failed to hit their targets, according to Iranian state media.
The US military said this was not true and that Iranian drones deliberately targeted the airport.
Earlier, Iranian media reported that the Revolutionary Guard attacked the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, a US air base and a ship identified as Panaya. US Central Command denied that its bases were hit and said Iranian ballistic missiles failed to hit targets in the region.
CENTCOM said it carried out a new round of “defensive strikes” in southern Iran, targeting missile launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to lay mines, and launching attacks on Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz following Iranian attempts to attack.
Ceasefire forced due to flare-ups
Since US and Israeli attacks on Iran began on February 28, Tehran has repeatedly attacked targets in the Gulf region where US military bases are located.
Fighting has flared periodically in recent weeks despite a ceasefire reached in early April as the United States attempts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which before the war handled roughly one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments.
Last week, Iran and the United States signaled progress toward an initial tentative agreement to stop the war and reopen the strait, but the two sides have yet to sign the deal, leaving more complex negotiations for later.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Lebanese broadcaster Al Mayadeen on Wednesday that talks had not been interrupted but no progress had been made.
Tehran made the agreement conditional on ending the conflict in Lebanon. It also wants access to billions of dollars of oil revenue, the lifting of sanctions on crude oil exports, the lifting of the blockade of US ports, and continued pressure on the strait.
US President Donald Trump, who is under pressure to reduce fuel prices, said his top priority is to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran says its atomic program is for peaceful purposes. In a podcast interview published Wednesday, Trump said Iran had agreed not to have nuclear weapons and that Khamenei was involved in the negotiations.
Later Wednesday, Trump said progress could be made in negotiations with Iran starting this weekend.
“If it happens, it could happen over the weekend,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office of the White House, but did not detail what he expected to happen during that time.
Trump said that the parties were working to separate the issue of reopening the strait from the conflict in Lebanon.
ISRAEL CONTINUES ITS ATTACKS ON LEBANON
The war has caused global economic pain by causing thousands of deaths, primarily in Iran and Lebanon, while severely disrupting energy supplies and other shipping.
This also sparked the latest conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Israeli drone strikes on Wednesday killed at least six people in southern Lebanon and targeted a car just south of Beirut, Lebanese security sources said, while Israel intercepted an enemy aircraft likely fired by Hezbollah.
Araqchi said that if Israel attacks Beirut, Iran will respond decisively.
Trump acknowledged in podcast comments that he called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “crazy” during an expletive-filled phone call about the conflict in Lebanon in an attempt to reach agreement on a broader war.
“At one point I said Bibi, we’ve got to stop this. We’ve got to stop this,” Trump said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.
Netanyahu said in an interview with CNBC that he and Trump sometimes have “tactical disagreements” but agree on basic issues regarding Iran.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Andy Sullivan, Clarence Fernandez, Aidan Lewis, Gareth Jones and Tim Reid; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Ros Russell and Deepa Babington)
