- Iran strikes US military targets in Bahrain and Kuwait.
- Trump says the United States could “finish the job militarily.”
- Each side claims the other is violating the ceasefire agreement.
Iran’s top diplomat warned on Sunday that any attempt to circumvent the Strait of Hormuz routes agreed with the United States would “increase tensions” in the Middle East, as the countries traded attacks and accusations of violating a fragile truce.
The exchanges underscored the fragility of a Pakistan-brokered deal to end a war launched by the United States and Israel in February that has disrupted shipping through the strait and roiled global energy markets.
“Any attempt to adopt new or separate arrangements from what is underway by the Islamic Republic of Iran will only lead to more complicated situations and delays in the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and increase tensions,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.
“I urge all parties… to adhere to the MoU and not allow this MoU to deviate from its course.”
He said Iran would retain full surveillance and management of the Strait of Hormuz for the next 30 days, warning that unilateral action by any other party could delay the reopening of the waterway.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday they were taking steps to control traffic in the strait – through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas exports pass in peacetime – and that violating ships would be cracked down more firmly than before.
The guards said on Thursday that Oman and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) announced a new corridor without consulting Tehran and warned ships against using it.
The only passage authorized by Tehran goes through a corridor along the Iranian coast.
Mohammad Mokhber, advisor to Iran’s supreme leader, wrote on
In this month’s memorandum of understanding – aimed at bringing a lasting end to the war – Iran had agreed to “the safe passage of commercial vessels free of charge, for 60 days only, from the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea, and vice versa” through the strait.
Although a ceasefire took effect in April, sporadic violence continued in the Gulf region and on Sunday Iran said it had carried out retaliatory strikes against US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain in response to the US attacks.
Bahrain denounced “treacherous Iranian attacks”, saying its air defenses had intercepted missiles and drones.
Kuwait, for its part, condemned Iran’s “heinous aggression… the latest of which occurred at dawn.”
Iran “would no longer exist”
The strikes came after U.S. forces said they struck “several” Iranian targets on Saturday, in another tit-for-tat response to attacks on ships in the strait.
Experts said there were likely to be more incidents in Hormuz.
For Iran, “a prolonged negotiation accompanied by controlled pressure across the strait can work to its advantage,” said HA Hellyer of the London think tank Royal United Services Institute.
The agreement signed by the United States and Iran stipulates that the two countries, as well as their respective allies, must “initiate no war or military operation against each other and refrain from the threat or use of force against each other.”
But the two countries have since exchanged accusations of violating their fragile ceasefire.
US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Iran “would no longer exist” if the United States was “forced” to return to war.
“US planes just struck Iranian missile and drone storage sites, as well as coastal radar sites, for violating the ceasefire agreement, AGAIN!” Trump wrote at Truth Social.
US Central Command said the strikes were in response to an Iranian drone attack on the Panama-flagged oil tanker “Kiku”.
Washington carried out similar strikes on Friday.
Israel strikes Lebanon
Meanwhile, Israel launched strikes in Lebanon as Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected a deal to end that conflict, which also threatened to derail the broader peace effort between the United States and Iran.
Iran called them a “blatant violation” of the truce agreement.
Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah on Sunday warned of an “internal conflict” in Lebanon over the country’s deal with Israel, predicting that the deal would not be implemented.
The agreement, signed Friday in Washington and aimed at paving the way for peace between the neighbors, notably provides for the disarmament of Hezbollah.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Sunday that Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon was “an essential condition for reaching a final and lasting agreement” that would establish security in the region.
But the Washington agreement does not seem to provide for this.
On Sunday, Lebanese state media reported a new Israeli strike on the south of the country, while the Israeli army announced that a soldier had been killed in fighting in southern Lebanon.
