The ceasefire between the US and Iran now hangs in the balance as both countries exchange strikes, increasing tension in the region.
On Wednesday morning, Iran launched missiles at a US base in Kuwait. The attack affected Kuwait’s airport. It led to the death of one Indian national and injured about 60 other people.
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Iran’s attack on Kuwait was a response to a US missile strike on an Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island, near the Strait of Hormuz.
The US also attacked a Botswana-flagged oil tanker heading toward an Iranian port on Kharg Island. According to the Central Command, the ship did not comply with the US blockade of Iranian ports.
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Iran, in response, struck the Gulf states of Kuwait and Bahrain. Iranian authorities said the attacks were targeted at the American air and helicopter bases in the region and the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain. The retaliatory strikes, according to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, “should serve as a lesson” against unprovoked attacks on Iran’s facilities.
The US claimed all Iranian attacks on American forces failed because its missiles and drones were either intercepted or fell short of their targets. But this statement runs contrary to the Kuwait government’s report on the impact of the strikes on its airport.
CENTCOM also said it shot down three Iranian attack drones launched “towards civilian mariners that were rightfully transiting regional waters.”
The latest escalation comes three months after the initial US and Israeli attacks on Iran.
Although a ceasefire between the US and Iran has been in effect since 8 April, efforts to negotiate a lasting resolution to the conflict have so far failed due to disagreement over Iran’s uranium enrichment and control over the Strait of Hormuz.
Last week, Iran and the US announced a preliminary agreement to halt hostilities. However, neither side has formally approved or signed the deal.
The latest attack also comes amid concerns that Israel’s expanding campaign in Lebanon could affect the US-Iran ceasefire.
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Israel’s recent attack in the Tyre district of southern Lebanon killed six people and injured at least 48 others.
CNN reports that US President Donald Trump said he was perturbed by Israel’s plans for military operations in Lebanon amid negotiations to end the three-month-long crisis.
“I wouldn’t say angry. I was a little bit perturbed at his constant fighting with Lebanon, you know, at some point I said, ‘Bibi, we got to stop this,’” he was quoted as having said.
“I don’t want to bore anybody, but I started because we can’t let them have a nuclear weapon. Now, that pertains to Israel because they probably would have been the first ones to get hit. There would be no Israel,” he also noted.
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