Iran attacks – Iran launched drone and missile attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait after U.S. airstrikes hit targets in Iran, escalating tensions just as the U.S. and Iran negotiate a potential interim peace deal. Iran warned it could impose a “complete halt” to talks if the U.S.
The explosions landed in places close to U.S. military presence: Kuwait, with its major U.S. army base, and Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. Sunday’s Iranian drone and missile attacks came after U.S. strikes on Saturday and after a weekend of tit-for-tat exchanges that have now spilled into the heart of regional shipping routes.
Iran launched drone and missile attacks targeting Bahrain and Kuwait in response to U.S. airstrikes that hit the Islamic Republic, and threatened a “complete halt” could come to negotiations to end the war if Washington continues its attacks.
The immediate flashpoints were the narrow waters of the Strait of Hormuz. Efforts to reopen the Strait without Iran’s direct oversight sparked the crossfire now gripping the region and imperiled negotiations for a lasting ceasefire. A multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Saturday it would expand a route near Oman to allow for both inbound and outbound traffic. setting up a new flashpoint with Tehran.
The strait is widely viewed by the global community as an international passageway, even though it sits in Iran and Oman’s territorial waters. In recent days, Tehran has twice attacked vessels going through a route on the Omani side of the strait backed by a United Nations agency.
Iran’s position is blunt: it says it alone must govern the strait. a narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf that once carried a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reiterated that claim during a state visit to Iraq on Sunday. Speaking in Baghdad. he said: “Any interference in this matter. 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. just as over the past two nights we witnessed incidents in the Strait of Hormuz that led to an increase in tension and confrontation.”.
At the same time, the U.S. and Iran are still debating the terms of an interim peace deal. The discussion includes getting ships through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, removing U.S. blockades and sanctions, and addressing the future of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium. Under a memorandum of understanding signed earlier this month, the U.S. and Iran have 60 days to iron out the details. The strikes threaten to torpedo the deal before it can be finalized.
Kuwait said its air defenses intercepted incoming Iranian drones and missiles Sunday morning just after the U.S. strikes. The Kuwaiti military said it detected and intercepted two ballistic missiles and that there were no reports of injuries or damage.
Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said the Iranian strikes damaged a residential building near the international airport and that no one was killed. The ministry released photos showing an 8-story building with the top floor completely destroyed. rubble piled throughout. and windows blown out. Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry later 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.”.
Bahrain is also home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, whose base there came under repeated attack during the war. The damaged building on Sunday was not near the fleet’s headquarters in downtown Manama.
The violence followed U.S. military action tied directly to the weekend’s sea attack. The U.S. military’s Central Command said it struck Iranian military “surveillance infrastructure. communication systems. air defense sites. drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities” on Sunday. after an attack on a ship at sea early Saturday morning.
That ship was the Panamanian-flagged tanker Kiku, carrying crude oil for the state-run energy company of Qatar, a key negotiator between Iran and the U.S.
Donald Trump accused Iran of violating a ceasefire in a social media post on Truth Social. He wrote: “The U.S. struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations. and coastal radar sites. for violating the Cease Fire Agreement. AGAIN!” He warned the U.S. could reach “a point where we may no longer be able to be reasonable and will be forced to militarily complete the job.”.
“If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!” Trump wrote.
The cycle has already moved through several rounds. The incident followed a similar back-and-forth just days prior, when an Iranian drone struck a merchant vessel off the coast of Oman on Thursday and the U.S. military retaliated with strikes.
For Iran, the response also came in the language of warning and bargaining. Iran’s Guard claimed responsibility for both attacks, saying it targeted Al Asad Air Base in Kuwait. “Let the enemy know that violating the ceasefire … will lead to a complete halt of ongoing processes,” the Guard added.
The Guard controls Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal and answers only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. It is thought to wield even greater influence now in the Islamic Republic.
The U.S. military said Iran had a chance to honor the ceasefire agreement but “elected not to” when its forces attacked the Kiku.
Ship-tracking websites said the Kiku appeared to be attempting to use a route established near the coast of Oman as an alternative to a route sanctioned by Iran that runs through Iran’s own waters. That detail connects the sea attacks to the broader dispute now threatening the reopening effort: who controls the pathways through the Strait of Hormuz. and under what oversight.
In the middle of negotiations, that fight over routes has become part of the fighting itself—U.S. and Iranian positions diverging not just on ceasefire language, but on who gets to move ships safely through the narrowest choke point in the region.
Iran United States Kuwait Bahrain Strait of Hormuz negotiations drones missiles ceasefire U.S. Navy 5th Fleet Al Asad Air Base Kiku tanker