Iran strikes US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain after American airstrikes, warns peace talks could collapse

Strait tensions reignite

A multinational maritime body supervised by the US Navy said on Saturday it would expand a route near Oman in the Strait of Hormuz to allow two-way traffic, a move Tehran considers a challenge to its claim of exclusive control over the chokepoint. Iran had already attacked two vessels using the Oman-side corridor in recent days.

On Thursday an Iranian drone hit the Singapore-flagged M/V Ever Lovely as it departed the strait. The US retaliated on Friday with airstrikes on Iranian military infrastructure in the south.

US retaliates, Iran answers back

Early Saturday morning, a one-way Iranian attack drone struck the Panamanian-flagged M/T Kiku, a tanker carrying more than two million barrels of crude from a Qatari field to a UAE port. US warplanes responded by hitting 10 Iranian military targets in and near the Strait of Hormuz, CENTCOM said, destroying surveillance systems, communication nodes, air-defence sites, drone storage facilities and mine-laying capabilities.

“American planes just hit Iranian missile and drone storage sites as well as coastal radar emplacements, for violating the Ceasefire Agreement, AGAIN!”

Hours later, the Revolutionary Guard launched ballistic missiles and drones against eight US military installations, naming the Ali Al Salem air base in Kuwait and the Fifth Fleet headquarters at Salman port in Bahrain. Air-raid sirens sounded overnight in both countries and a residential building near Manama international airport was damaged, though no casualties were reported.

“Any new American aggression, under whatever pretext, will receive a crushing response.”

Control of the waterway

The sequence of attacks centres on a fundamental disagreement inside the provisional peace memorandum. Article 5 says Iran will "make arrangements, using its best efforts, for the safe passage of commercial vessels" for 60 days while Iran, Oman and other Gulf states discuss future governance of the strait. Tehran interprets this as a mandate to vet every transit.

“Any interference in this matter, any attempt to establish new arrangements separate from those currently being carried out by the Islamic Republic of Iran, will only lead to further complications, delay the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and raise the tension level.”

Peace negotiations on the brink

Iran’s Foreign Minister, speaking in Baghdad, insisted the strait will remain under full Iranian supervision for the next 30 days and warned of a "total paralysis" of the peace talks if US strikes continue. Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attack as undermining "international de-escalation efforts" and reserved the right to act in self-defence. Bahrain called for an emergency Arab League meeting.

Trump returned to Truth Social to declare that the moment may come when "we can no longer be reasonable and we are forced to complete militarily the work we started so successfully. If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will cease to exist!"

The escalation sequence is detailed in the timeline below.