Iran and the US traded fire on Sunday, each accusing the other of breaching a ceasefire as missile and drone strikes launched towards American military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait raised tensions over the Strait of Hormuz.
The attacks came after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned on Thursday that only Iran-approved routes were valid for commercial shipping through the strait, in defiance of a UN-backed plan to establish a safe corridor that hugs the Omani coast.
Despite that threat, shipping data showed two oil tankers and two liquefied petroleum gas carriers transiting the strait inbound via the Omani route with their tracking systems switched on, reportedly under heavy US naval and air force protection. A Bloomberg journalist said this showed Washington was “trying hard to keep the Omani route on”, although the report could not be immediately verified.
During a visit to Baghdad, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said any “intervention” in the strait would heighten regional tensions. He said that the waterway could return to its prewar capacity in 30 days, but with the Islamic republic “solely” responsible for co-ordinating the arrangements.
Mr Araghchi also said Iran accepted a proposal put forward on Sunday by Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein to launch regional security talks involving Tehran, Baghdad and the Gulf Co-operation Council states.
It came after the IRGC said it carried out strikes between 2am and 3am, firing missiles and drones at eight targets it described as US military infrastructure in the Gulf, among them Ali Al Salem airbase in Kuwait and sites linked to the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.
Bahrain sounded air-raid sirens before and after dawn, while Kuwait said its armed forces intercepted two Iranian ballistic missiles over its territory, with no casualties or damage reported. A US official also reported no reported American casualties or significant damage.
The IRGC said its attacks were a “decisive missile and drone response to US aggression” and accused Washington of acting as a “violating enemy” under the pretext of confronting Iranian naval activity in the Strait of Hormuz.
It added that maritime enforcement in the strait would be tightened, saying foreign vessels could face tougher treatment for breaches and raising the risk to commercial shipping routes through the Gulf.
Analysts said Tehran appears to be betting that the threat of enforcement alone could be enough to divert shipping into the Iran-controlled channel, leaving Washington to choose between accepting the new reality or risking renewed military confrontation to restore previous navigation arrangements.
The exchange followed two days of US strikes on Iranian targets, which Washington said were carried out in response to Iranian attacks on vessels in and near the Strait of Hormuz.
The US military's Central Command said its fighter jets struck 10 Iranian military targets near the strait, including air defence systems, communications infrastructure, radar installations and drone storage sites. It released videos showing explosions at target sites.
US President Donald Trump accused Tehran of breaching a ceasefire agreement and warned the US could escalate further if attacks continued.
In a post on social media, he said strikes had been carried out “for violating the ceasefire agreement, again”.
“There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable … If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist,” Mr Trump added.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry rejected the accusation, saying US and Israeli strikes had breached the ceasefire and worsened regional instability.
It said Washington had “imposed an illegal and criminal war against Iran” and insisted that any arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz and wider Gulf must respect Iran’s sovereignty and interests.
In Baghdad, Mr Araghchi said the implementation of the recent agreement would enable the strait to resume normal operations.
“Based on this memorandum and after the removal of obstacles, the Strait of Hormuz will return to its prewar capacity under Iran's exclusive management within 30 days, and the responsibility for implementing these arrangements lies solely with the Islamic Republic,” the Iranian minister said.
Bahrain condemned what it called the “renewed Iranian aggression on its territories with a number of ballistic missiles and drones”. Kuwait hit out at what it called “the repeated sinful Iranian aggressions”, saying they were a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty. The UAE also condemned the attacks and reaffirmed its full solidarity with its Gulf neighbours.
A senior shipping executive warned that mines in the strait could keep traffic below half of prewar levels for months even if a US-Iran ceasefire holds, citing extremely narrow safe corridors and persistent security constraints, The Financial Times reported.
“The routes available for navigation are extremely limited – they’re very narrow corridors,” Takaya Soga, chief executive of Japan’s NYK Line, was quoted as saying. “We’re still nowhere near returning to conditions before the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.”
The escalation in the Gulf came as separate Israeli drone strikes hit southern Lebanon despite a newly signed framework agreement.
The Israeli military said on Sunday that it killed Hezbollah militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and struck a rocket launcher in the Nabatieh area of southern Lebanon to remove threats to its soldiers. It said it struck the building from which the militants operated and dismantled a rocket launcher that posed a threat.
Iran is "seriously pursuing" efforts to end the war in Lebanon, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said during a phone call with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Sunday, according to Iranian state media.
Mr Ghalibaf said ending the war in Lebanon and safeguarding the country's sovereignty were among the main issues discussed during last week's US-Iran talks in Switzerland and are included in the Islamabad memorandum of understanding.
