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Iran strikes US bases in Bahrain and Kuwait in retaliation against US attack on Sirik
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Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has warned that US “blind strikes” on Sirik do not resolve Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz.
The statement came as Iran and the US continued to trade attacks in the Gulf as each accused the other of violating an interim deal signed less than two weeks ago to end their four-month-old war.
Iran on Sunday said its naval and aerospace forces carried out a joint missile and drone operation targeting US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain, and warned further violations would receive a “crushing response”.Earlier, the US military said it had struck Iran again after a tanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz.
Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Saturday evening to warn that Iran would ‘no longer exist’ if Tehran kept breaking the ceasefire. Trump’s latest threat came after the US launched fresh strikes on Saturday on Iranian missile and drone locations and radar sites “ for violating the ceasefire agreement, AGAIN”.
US Central Command said the strikes were launched “in direct response to continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping”.
Unimpressed protestors within Iran feel betrayed by Donald Trump’s promises of regime change.
Amirhossein Miresmaeili reports:
Israel’s nearly four-month air and ground campaign against Hezbollah has damaged or destroyed revered heritage sites across southern Lebanon, a minister has said.
Despite a ceasefire that took hold a week ago, authorities have yet to build a full picture of the damage as Israeli troops still occupy a zone about 10 km (6.2 miles) deep into Lebanon, according to Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassan Salame.
“We cannot work under the shadow of occupation,” he said. That occupation zone includes the medieval Beaufort Castle as well as centuries-old villages that were home to Christians, Shi’ite Muslims and Sunni Muslims and their places of worship.
“There are villages that have been completely bulldozed,” Salame said. Even ancient towns outside the zone were pummeled with air strikes, including Tyre and Nabatieh. Heavy bombing hit the town of Tebnin, prompting fears that its Crusader fortress was also damaged, the minister added.
Modern-day Lebanon sits at the intersection of civilizations including the Phoenicians, Byzantines, Mamluks and Crusaders, each leaving their mark with temples, castles and mausoleums.
Israel’s military told Reuters it does not aim to “cause excessive damage to civilian infrastructure and strikes only out of military necessity”.
It said it took into account the existence of “sensitive sites” and applied “a rigorous approval process as required”. Israel has accused Hezbollah of placing weapons in Beaufort Castle, a claim that Lebanese authorities deny.
Iraq’s foreign minister said in a meeting on Sunday with his Iranian counterpart that it was important to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and lift the U.S. naval blockade on Iran.
Iraq does not support expanding the scale of the war on the Gulf states, and does not back attacks on Iran, Fuad Hussein told Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who is visiting Baghdad.
Even as attacks continued on Sunday morning, CMA CGM’s Galapagos container ship exited the strait in what the shipping giant called “an important milestone in a regional context that remains complex and requires constant vigilance”.
Iran‘s Revolutionary Guard launched drone and missile attacks on Sunday targeting Bahrain and Kuwait in response to U.S. airstrikes that hit the Islamic Republic and threatened a “complete halt” of negotiations to end the war if Washington continues its attacks.
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Before the war, the Strait of Hormuz carried one-fifth of global oil and liquified natural gas supplies. The shipping route had just begun to reopen after months of disruption.
Washington has been promoting a southern lane along the coast of Oman, while Tehran, which ultimately aims to charge fees for use of the strait, wants ships to use a northern route through its territorial waters.
Iran has targeted two cargo ships with drones in recent days, which have been met with retaliatory US strikes on military sites.
In a statement, the IRGC hit out at what it called America’s “blind shots” – which struck Sirik – insisting they will “not resolve our dominance over the Strait of Hormuz”.
“But our shots at violators will remind the rest of the vessels of the clear passage route,” they added.
U.S. Central Command said that its forces had carried out fresh strikes after a Panama-flagged tanker was attacked by an Iranian drone on Saturday.
“Iran was given a chance to honor the ceasefire agreement but elected not to,” Central Command said in a statement, adding that its strikes were “in direct response to continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping” and targeted Iranian military surveillance, communications, air defence, drone storage and mine-laying facilities.
Iranian state broadcaster IRIB said explosions were heard in Sirik in southern Iran, without providing details. The Guards said “America’s blind shots at Sirik will not resolve our dominance over the Strait of Hormuz. But our shots at violators will remind the rest of the vessels of the clear passage route.”
Saturday’s tanker attack in the strait followed one on a cargo ship on Thursday that triggered the latest escalation. Iran is seeking to assert control over the strait, which carried one-fifth of global oil and LNG supplies before the war and which had just begun to reopen after months of disruption.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said its navy and air forces had launched missile and drone operations targeting U.S. military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain in response to recent U.S. strikes against Iran.
The Guards said in a statement the U.S. strikes had violated the ceasefire and “will result in the complete halt of all diplomatic processes”, according to state-run Press TV.
The IRGC navy command said American bases in the region “will experience hell in the coming days”.
A U.S. official, confirming the attacks on U.S. facilities, told Reuters there were no reported U.S. casualties or major damage to U.S. sites in the Middle East but that the situation was still unfolding.
Hours later, alarms sounded for a second time in Bahrain, and the foreign ministry there condemned the attacks as a deliberate and repeated violation of the kingdom’s sovereignty and security. It urged the U.N. Security Council to hold an urgent session to hold Iran accountable.
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