Hadi Mizban/AP Photo/Hadi Mizban/AP
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed responsibility for launching drone and missile attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait on Sunday, according to a statement issued via state-run Iranian media. The attempted strikes came hours after new U.S. military action against Iranian targets. The latest exchange has put negotiations toward a lasting ceasefire in jeopardy.
It was the most significant escalation since Iran and the U.S. signed a memorandum of understanding earlier this month. Under that tentative agreement, both sides gave themselves 60 days to resolve key disputes. Those include shipping arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz, the removal of a U.S. blockade on Iranian ports, sanctions relief and the future of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
Kuwait said on Sunday that its air defenses had intercepted two Iranian ballistic missiles. There were no reports of injuries or damage. Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said Iranian munitions hit a residential building near the international airport. No one was killed. The ministry released photos of an eight-story building with its top floor destroyed and windows blown out. The building was not near the headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. The fleet is based in Bahrain and came under sustained attack during the war.
Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry condemned what it called “a dangerous escalation that reveals that what Tehran is doing is not a passing act, nor an isolated incident, but rather a deliberate approach and a systematic pattern of repeated aggression.”
Violence between Israel and Hezbollah
Meanwhile, violence between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon continues to fan tensions in the region. On Sunday, the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah killed an Israeli soldier in Deir Siryan village in southern Lebanon, according to Israel’s military, which said it responded by killing the man responsible.
A day earlier, Hezbollah’s leader said the group would fight on until Israel withdraws from southern Lebanon, according to a statement carried in a pro-Hezbollah local media outlet. Another Lebanese media outlet reported that Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf called for an urgent meeting of a newly formed conflict control unit involving Iran, the U.S. and Lebanon.
Israel’s military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, warned of continued operations during a visit with troops in the country’s northern border region with Lebanon. “We are prepared to rapidly resume offensive operations in both Lebanon and Iran if required,” he said, according to Israeli media.
The ceasefire signed earlier this month did not include Iran or Hezbollah. Israel has said it will not withdraw from territory it occupies in southern Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed. Hezbollah has rejected that demand, saying it won’t disarm until Israel pulls out.
U.S. and Iran continue strait dispute
Iran said Sunday’s attacks were in retaliation for a U.S. strikes. Late Saturday, U.S. Central Command said it had hit 10 Iranian military targets. Those included surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities. The U.S. military said the operation was in response to an Iranian attack in the strait of Hormuz on a Panamanian-flagged tanker, the Kiku, on Saturday. The vessel was carrying crude oil for Qatar’s state-run energy company. Qatar has been a key mediator between Iran and the U.S.
The Kiku attack was part of a pattern that began Thursday. A suspected Iranian drone hit a merchant vessel off Oman. U.S. forces responded with military action against Iranian sites on Friday. Control over the strait is at the heart of the dispute. Iran insists it alone must govern the waterway, which once carried a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi restated that position on Sunday. “Any attempt to establish new or separate arrangements from those currently being carried out 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.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps warned Sunday that Iran could halt negotiations entirely if U.S. military action continued, according to a social media post by Iranian state-run media.
In a social media post, President Trump accused Iran of violating the ceasefire. “There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started,” he said, adding, “If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!”
