Bahrain has said Iran fired ballistic missiles and drones at it and Kuwait, hours after the US and Iran exchanged strikes over the Gulf, the latest in a series of flare-ups that threatened to break the fragile ceasefire.
Air raid sirens rang out on Saturday in Bahrain and people were told to move to a safe location and await further instructions. Kuwait’s military said it was intercepting drones and missiles launched at the country.
The Kuwaiti foreign ministry condemned the attacks, calling them a “serious escalation” and a “flagrant violation of its sovereignty”, and said it reserved the right to defend its country.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it was targeting the Ali al-Salem airbase in Bahrain, where the US navy’s 5th fleet is located, according to Iranian media.
The attacks came after the US military said it had shot down four Iranian drones launched toward the strait of Hormuz and struck Iranian coastal surveillance radar sites in response. Iran followed hours later, saying it had targeted US bases in the region, with Kuwait and Bahrain both issuing air raid alerts.
It was the latest in a series of back-and-forth attacks that have strained the tenuous ceasefire in the war and harmed efforts to reach a deal to extend the truce. US-Iran efforts to find a permanent end to the war have dragged on, extending regional instability and throwing the global economy into disarray.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said millions of people were being pushed into hunger due to the knock-on effects of the Iran war, primarily due to soaring energy and food prices.
US central command (Centcom) said early on Saturday that Iranian attack drones “posed an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic”, while the strikes on radar installations were to “defend against further attacks”. The US military is enforcing a blockade on Iranian ports in response to Tehran’s chokehold on the strait – a crucial corridor for global oil and natural gas shipments – which has sent energy prices spiking.
Hours later, the IRGC said it had targeted “enemy bases” in the Gulf after the US strikes on Sirik and Qeshm Island.
“Iran fired seven ballistic missiles toward Kuwait and Bahrain,” Centcom said, adding that six were intercepted and a seventh did not reach its target. “There are currently no reports of harm to US personnel, and Iranian claims of damaging US 5th fleet headquarters in Bahrain are false.”
Earlier on Friday, Donald Trump told reporters that “the situation with Iran seems to be going quite well”.
At an event with farmers in Wisconsin, Trump said: “We’re going to come out of Iran very quickly and it’s going to be very strong one way or the other, whether it’s a piece of paper or the very tough way. Your fertiliser prices are going to go way down, just like they were four months ago.”
Trump is under pressure to find a way out of the war, which has shocked markets and proved unpopular at home as midterm elections loom. US and Iranian negotiators have for weeks been working to extend the ceasefire by 60 days and start a new round of talks on Iran’s nuclear programme. But both sides have continued to call for changes in the deal, with neither appearing ready to compromise.
Asked on Friday why it was taking so long, Trump told NBC it was because it was “a very hard thing” for Iran, citing its “great independence”.
“There are things they never thought they’d be doing that they’re going to have to do. They’ve got no choice, and it takes a little while,” he said in the interview.
In other comments on Friday, Trump said Iran still had more than 20% of its missiles left, a figure for the stockpile that was higher than the 18% that Trump gave last month. He has often claimed to have completely destroyed Iran’s ability to wage war.
Trump told NBC News: “They still have capacity. They have some missiles, they have some drones. I would say, percentage wise, maybe 21, 22% of their missiles.”
His administration has also touted the latest ceasefire agreed to this week by the Lebanese government and Israel after US-brokered talks in Washington. That’s despite Iranian-backed Hezbollah – who were not party to the talks – rejecting the agreement and new attacks being launched by both sides.
Israeli airstrikes killed nine people in Lebanon on Saturday, including three Lebanese army soldiers in their vehicle. The Lebanese president, Joseph Aoun, called the strike on its army a “flagrant violation to Lebanese sovereignty and international law”.
The Israeli military said the vehicle was “moving suspiciously” towards Israeli soldiers in an area where Hezbollah operated and that it would review the incident. Israel has killed several Lebanese army soldiers and state security forces, despite the Lebanese state not being a party to the Hezbollah-Israel war.
The fighting in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have seized large swaths of the south, also threatens efforts to end the Iran war and reopen the strait of Hormuz. Iran has demanded that any lasting truce extend to Lebanon.
On Friday, Aoun criticised Iran for opposing this week’s ceasefire deal, accusing the country of fighting its wars in Lebanon and using it as a bargaining chip in negotiations.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, responded to the accusation on Saturday by saying that “one would think it’s Iran that has occupied a fifth of Lebanon, displaced a quarter of Lebanese and is bombing his country on daily basis”.
“Had Lebanon been a bargaining chip for Iran, we’d have a deal long ago. Save Lebanon from your real foe, Mr President,” Araghchi said in a post on X.
With the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse
