DUBAI, June 1 (Reuters) – The U.S. said it struck Iranian military sites at the weekend and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Monday it had targeted a U.S. base in response, the latest in a series of exchanges amid negotiations to end the three-month-old war. The strikes on Iran’s Gulf coast were in response to “aggressive Iranian actions that included the shootdown of a U.S. MQ-1 drone that was operating over international waters,” the U.S. Central Command said in a post on X. “U.S. fighter
aircraft swiftly responded by eliminating Iranian air defences, a ground control station, and two one-way attack drones that posed clear threats to ships transiting regional waters,” CENTCOM said, adding it will continue to protect U.S. assets and interests during the ongoing ceasefire. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Monday it had targeted an air base used by the U.S. for an attack on southern Iran, without identifying which base. Air defences in Kuwait, where a major U.S. base is located, were intercepting missile and
drone attacks on Monday as sirens sounded across the country, the state news agency KUNA reported, without providing further details. The U.S. and Iran have sporadically exchanged strikes since their ceasefire took effect in early April as negotiations aimed at a more durable agreement drag on. A similar exchange occurred last Thursday and was described in similar terms by both sides. The war launched by the U.S. and Israel on February 28 has killed thousands of people, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, and caused global
economic pain by pushing up energy prices due to Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. President Donald Trump has said his key aim in the war is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon with its highly enriched uranium. Tehran has consistently denied it has plans to do that. Trump is under pressure to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and get U.S. gasoline prices down ahead of the November congressional elections, as voters show increasing frustration over rising prices. At the
same time, he faces a potential backlash from Iran hawks in his own party over any concessions to Tehran. The two sides remain at odds on several other issues, such as Tehran’s demands for the lifting of sanctions and the release of tens of billions of dollars of Iranian oil revenues frozen in foreign banks. Israel’s war in Lebanon with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia is another major impediment. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he had ordered troops to move further into Lebanon
in the battle against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with both Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Netanyahu on the diplomatic negotiations between Israel and Lebanon and has proposed a plan to allow for “gradual de-escalation,” a U.S. official said. (Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
United States, Iran, Revolutionary Guards, Central Command, MQ-1 drone, Kuwait air defenses, Strait of Hormuz, ceasefire, negotiations, Lebanon, Hezbollah, Marco Rubio
So wait who actually shot the drone down?
This sounds like the usual “defend ourselves” thing but it’s still strikes on both sides. I just don’t get why it can’t be negotiations only when people are dying.
They said Kuwait sirens, but also “international waters”?? That’s like saying a fight started in your yard but then blame the neighbor. Maybe the base they hit is the same one in the story every time.
Trump wants no nukes so they keep escalating with drones and “one-way attack drones”?? Sounds backwards to me. Also the Strait of Hormuz thing… I swear every time they mention it my gas prices jump even if it’s not even our fault. I’m not saying Iran is innocent, but the U.S. response is always “swiftly eliminated” like it’s a video game.