Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has said it targeted an American air base in the region, after fresh US strikes on southern Iran overnight. The IRGC did not say where the base was, but Kuwait, which hosts a US base, said it had intercepted “hostile missile and drone threats”.
The US military said Iran had launched a ballistic missile towards Kuwait that was successfully intercepted by Kuwaiti forces, without specifying whether it was aimed at its military base.
The Iranian missile launch came after the US shot down Iranian drones over the Strait of Hormuz and struck a military site in Bandar Abbas, a strategic port city in southern Iran.
The renewed hostilities threaten a fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran.
It is the second time in three days that the US has attacked targets in Iran – saying that the strikes were conducted in self-defence.
The IRGC said the attack on the US air base took place in the early hours of Thursday morning and targeted the site as it was “the source” of earlier US strikes on Iran, according to state broadcaster IRIB.
US Central Command (Centcom) said Iran’s attack on Kuwait was an “egregious ceasefire violation” that occurred “hours after Iranian forces launched five one-way attack drones that posed a clear threat in and near the Strait of Hormuz”.
It said all the drones were intercepted and that a sixth drone launched from an Iranian ground control site in Bandar Abbas was also prevented.
Centcom described its actions as “measured, purely defensive, and intended to maintain the ceasefire”.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqai meanwhile condemned the US strikes and said they constituted a violation of the ceasefire.
He added that the Islamic republic would “take all necessary measures to defend its national sovereignty”, according to quotes cited by IRIB.
Kuwait’s foreign affairs ministry strongly condemned what it termed “criminal Iranian attacks that targeted” its territory.
Earlier this week, the US confirmed a previous round of “self-defence” strikes on southern Iran on Monday in which they targeted Iranian missile sites and boats attempting to lay mines in the Strait, where thousands of commercial tanker ships are stranded as a result of the conflict.
Centcom said those strikes were designed “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces”.
The US also imposed sanctions on the “Persian Gulf Strait Authority” – the Iranian body tasked with collecting payments from ships travelling through the Strait of Hormuz.
Any ships that pay the authority could also be “exposed to the risk of sanctions”, the US Treasury Department said in a statement.
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Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Baqai said on Monday that Tehran was collecting fees for “navigational services” and it would continue to manage traffic through the waterway.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described it as the “Iranian military’s latest attempt to extort global maritime trade” and “proof” Iran is “desperate for cash”.
The IRGC also said on Tuesday that it had downed a US drone and fired at a fighter jet and another drone that entered Iranian airspace, but did not specify when.
Protracted negotiations have been taking place to end the three-month war that has choked traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and caused global energy prices to shoot up.
During a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump said that Iran is “negotiating on fumes”, insisting that his war strategy will not be impacted by November’s US midterm elections.
“Maybe we have to go back and finish it, maybe we don’t,” he said.
During that meeting, the president also urged Gulf nations to sign on to the Abraham Accords to normalise relations with Israel.
Israel launched the war against Iran alongside the US on 28 February and is also embroiled in a war with Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Trump has threatened to resume a large-scale bombing campaign if Iran does not agree to his terms.
While Trump struck an optimistic note over the weekend, saying that a peace deal with Iran had been “largely negotiated”, by Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, he said that the US was “not satisfied”.
He said Tehran was “very much intent” on reaching an agreement to end the conflict, but added “so far they haven’t gotten there”, repeating Washington’s willingness to resume strikes if one is not reached.
His remarks came after Iranian state TV reported what it said were details of a draft agreement, which included reopening the Strait of Hormuz and the withdrawal of US forces from the region.
The White House branded the text a “complete fabrication”.
Both sides signalled progress had been made towards a deal late last week, prompting speculation an announcement was close.
However, Tehran soon cautioned a deal was “not imminent” while Trump said he had instructed his negotiators “not to rush into” one.
By BBC News
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