- Iran attacks US military targets in Bahrain, Kuwait.
- Trump says the United States can “complete the job militarily.”
- Each side says the other is violating the ceasefire agreement.
Iran’s top diplomat warned Sunday that any attempt to bypass the Strait of Hormuz routes agreed with the United States would “increase tensions” in the Middle East, as the countries traded attacks and accusations of violating a fragile truce.
The exchanges underscored the fragility of a Pakistan-brokered deal aimed at ending a war launched by the United States and Israel in February, which disrupted shipping across the strait and rattled global energy markets.
“Any attempt to adopt new or separate agreements compared to what is underway by the Islamic Republic of Iran will only lead to more complicated situations and delays in the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and increase tensions,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
“I urge all parties… to adhere to the memorandum of understanding and not allow this MoU to deviate from its course.”
He said Iran will maintain full oversight and management of the Strait of Hormuz for the next 30 days, and warned that unilateral action by any other party could delay the reopening of the waterway.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said on Sunday it was taking steps to control traffic in the strait – through which, in peacetime, about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas exports pass – and that offending vessels would be dealt with more firmly than before.
The Guards said on Thursday that Oman and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) announced a new corridor without consulting Tehran and warned ships not to use it.
The only passage authorized by Tehran goes through a corridor that runs along the Iranian coast.
Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, wrote in
In the memorandum of understanding reached this month, aimed at bringing a lasting end to the war, Iran had agreed to “the safe passage of commercial vessels free of charge, for 60 days only, from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Oman, and vice versa” in the strait.
Although a ceasefire went into effect in April, sporadic violence has continued in the Gulf region, and on Sunday Iran said it carried out retaliatory attacks on US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain in response to US attacks.
Bahrain denounced “treacherous Iranian attacks” and said its air defenses had intercepted missiles and drones.
Kuwait, for its part, condemned “Iran’s atrocious aggression… the latest of which occurred at dawn.”
Iran “would no longer exist”
The strikes came after US forces said they had struck “multiple” Iranian targets on Saturday in another tit-for-tat response to attacks on shipping in the strait.
Experts said there were likely to be more incidents in Hormuz.
For Iran, “a prolonged negotiation accompanied by controlled pressure in the strait can be advantageous,” said HA Hellyer of the London think tank Royal United Services Institute.
The agreement signed by the United States and Iran said that both countries, and their respective allies, “would not initiate any war or military operation against each other and would refrain from threatening or using force against each other.”
But both countries have since traded accusations of violating their fragile ceasefire.
US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Iran “will no longer exist” if the United States is “forced” to resume the war.
“US planes just struck Iranian missile and drone storage sites, and coastal radar sites, for violating the Ceasefire Agreement, AGAIN!” Trump wrote in Truth Social.
U.S. Central Command said the strikes were in response to an Iranian drone attack on the Panama-flagged oil tanker “Kiku.”
Washington had carried out similar attacks on Friday.
Israel attacks Lebanon
Meanwhile, Israel launched attacks in Lebanon as Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected a deal to end that conflict, which has also threatened to derail the broader US-Iran peace effort.
Iran called them “a flagrant violation” of the truce agreement.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah warned Sunday of an “internal conflict” in Lebanon over the country’s deal with Israel, and predicted the deal would not be implemented.
The agreement, which was signed in Washington on Friday and aims to pave the way for peace between the neighbors, includes plans to disarm Hezbollah.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on Sunday that Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon was “an essential condition for reaching a final and lasting agreement” establishing security in the region.
But the Washington agreement does not seem to contemplate that.
On Sunday, Lebanese state media reported a new Israeli attack in the south of the country, while the Israeli army said a soldier was killed in fighting in southern Lebanon.
