- Iran attacks US military targets in Bahrain, Kuwait.
- Trump says US can ‘finish the job militarily’.
- Each side says the other is violating the ceasefire agreement.
Iran’s top diplomat warned on Sunday that any attempt to circumvent 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 breaching a fragile ceasefire.
The exchanges underscored the fragility of a Pakistani-brokered deal aimed at ending a war launched by the United States and Israel in February that disrupted shipping through the strait and rattled global energy markets.
“Any attempt to adopt new or separate arrangements 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 will increase tensions,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
“I urge all parties… to abide by the Memorandum of Understanding and not allow this MoU to deviate from its course.”
He said Iran will maintain total supervision 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 Guards said on Sunday it was taking measures to control traffic in the strait – through which in peacetime about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquid natural gas exports travel – and that offending vessels would be dealt with more firmly than before.
The watchdogs said on Thursday that Oman and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) announced a new corridor without consulting Tehran and warned vessels against using it.
The only approved passage by Tehran is through a corridor that runs along Iran’s coast.
Mohammad Mokhber, adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, wrote X that as long as Iran managed the strait, America’s “hegemonic dreams in the region will not be realized”.
In the memorandum of understanding struck this month – aimed at putting a lasting end to the war – Iran had agreed to “safe passage of commercial vessels at no cost, for 60 days only, from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Oman and vice versa” in the strait.
Although a ceasefire took effect in April, sporadic violence has continued in the Gulf region, and on Sunday Iran said it carried out retaliatory strikes against US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain in response to US strikes.
Bahrain condemned the “treacherous Iranian attacks” and said its air force had intercepted missiles and drones.
Kuwait, meanwhile, condemned “Iran’s heinous aggression… the latest of which was at dawn”.
Iran would ‘no longer exist’
The strikes came after US forces said they had struck “several” Iranian targets on Saturday in another tough response to attacks on shipping in the strait.
Experts said there were likely to be more Hormuz incidents.
For Iran, “a protracted negotiation accompanied by controlled pressure in the strait could work to its advantage”, said HA Hellyer, of the London think tank Royal United Services Institute.
The agreement signed by the US and Iran said both countries and their respective allies “should not initiate any war or any military operation against each other and refrain from the threat or use of 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 would “no longer exist” if the US is “forced” to resume the war.
“US planes just hit Iranian missile and drone storage sites and coastal radar sites to violate the cease-fire agreement AGAIN!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The US 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
Israel, meanwhile, launched strikes in Lebanon as Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected a deal to end that conflict, which has also threatened to derail broader US-Iran peace efforts.
Iran called them “a flagrant violation” of the ceasefire agreement.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah warned on Sunday of “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 Sunday that Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon is “an essential condition for reaching a final and lasting agreement” establishing security in the region.
But the Washington agreement does not seem to provide for that.
On Sunday, Lebanese state media reported a new Israeli attack on the country’s south, while the Israeli military said a soldier was killed in fighting in southern Lebanon.
