IRAN has launched drone and missile attacks targeting US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait - responding to strikes by the US on the Islamic Republic.
Kuwait said its air defences intercepted drones and missiles on Sunday morning, while Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said a residential building had been hit.
Kuwait hosts a major US army base, and Bahrain is home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, whose base there came under repeated attack during the war.
Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement denouncing 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 against the sovereignty of the kingdom, and the security of its citizens and residents”.
The strikes came after the US and Iran traded attacks over the weekend, amid rising tensions in the Gulf.
Efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz without Iran’s oversight appear to have triggered the escalation. Tehran insists that after the war, it alone must govern the strait, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf that once carried a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas.
According to Al Jazeera, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the Strait of Hormuz would remain under Iranian control for the next 30 days.
Hitting Iran on Sunday, the US military’s Central Command had said it struck “surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defence sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities” following an attack on a ship at sea on Saturday morning.
In a social media post, Donald Trump said the US had “struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites, for violating the ceasefire agreement, AGAIN!”
He warned there could come a point where the US would no longer be able to act reasonably and “will be forced to militarily complete the job”.
“If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!” he wrote on Truth Social.
Following the US attack, Tehran hit back, warning of a “crushing response” if Washington continues its strikes.
Meanwhile, Israel has continued attacks on Lebanon into Sunday morning, hitting the village of Deir Seryan and homes in Khiam, according to Lebanese media.
Araqchi has called on the United States to stop Israel from attacking Lebanon.
Speaking at a press conference in Baghdad, he said the US “should live up to its responsibility and force” Israel to halt its attacks and withdraw from occupied areas in Lebanon.
