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The fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran deteriorated sharply over the weekend as American forces conducted fresh strikes on Iranian military sites and Tehran launched retaliatory drone and missile attacks against Kuwait and Bahrain, both home to major U.S. military installations.
U.S. Central Command said American military aircraft struck Iranian surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities in direct response to continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. The strikes came after Iran targeted two commercial vessels in the strategically vital waterway — the Panama-flagged oil tanker M/T Kiku on Saturday and the commercial ship M/V Ever Lovely the previous week, CENTCOM said. The M/T Kiku was struck by a one-way attack drone.
President Trump issued a stark warning on Truth Social, saying Iran risks ceasing to exist as a republic if it does not change course. “There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started,” Trump posted. “If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!”
Hours after the latest U.S. strikes, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard claimed responsibility for attacks on both Kuwait and Bahrain. Kuwait’s military said air defenses intercepted two ballistic missiles with no injuries or damage reported. The Gulf kingdom hosts a major U.S. Army base. In Bahrain — home to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet — an Iranian strike damaged the top floor of an eight-story residential building near the international airport. Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said no one was killed. Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry condemned what it called a “deliberate approach and a systematic pattern of repeated aggression” by Tehran.
The exchanges represent a significant breakdown of a memorandum of understanding the Trump administration reached with Iran earlier this month, which called for a halt to hostilities and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz during 60 days of nuclear negotiations. Vice President J.D. Vance recently concluded an initial round of talks with Iranian negotiators in Switzerland, with the administration saying Iran agreed to admit U.N. inspectors at sensitive nuclear sites. Iranian officials disputed that characterization.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking Sunday in Baghdad, declared that Iran alone controls the Strait of Hormuz and warned that outside interference would only deepen the crisis.
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