US, Iran launch new strikes

DUBAI/WASHINGTON:

US forces struck Iranian coastal radar sites on Saturday after shooting down drones launched by Iran toward the Strait of Hormuz, the US military said, in the latest escalation complicating efforts to end the war between the two countries.

The US military believed the four Iranian drones were targeting regional maritime traffic, a US official told Reuters. US Central Command said on X that the US then struck Iran's surveillance sites in Goruk and Qeshm Island, both on the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran's foreign ministry said the US action broke an April 8 ceasefire, adding that such repeated violations showed Washington had no intention of reducing tensions. It warned that the United States would bear responsibility for the consequences of its "illegal actions".

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had attacked U.S. bases in Kuwait and Bahrain in retaliation for U.S. strikes and fired at four tankers trying to cross the strait without its permission.

Kuwait's army said on Saturday it engaged seven ballistic missiles that passedover residential areas, resulting in material damage but no casualties. In Bahrain, sirens sounded and residents were urged to seek shelter.

Kuwait and Bahrain condemned the strikes. Iran later said it had hit US bases in both countries with ballistic missiles, but the U.S. military said six missiles were intercepted and a seventh did not reach its target.

The US and Iran have been engaged in largely indirect negotiationsfor an interim deal to halt the three-month-old war that would leave issues including Iran's nuclear programme to further negotiations.

But a deal has remained elusive as the two sides have periodically skirmished.

Tehran wants access to billions of dollars in oil revenue, waivers on sanctions on crude exports, the lifting of a U.S. blockade on its ports and leverage over the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has effectively blocked the waterway, where about a fifth of global oil traffic transited before the war.

US President Donald Trump is facing mounting domestic political pressure due to rising gas prices to bring the unpopular war to an end. He told NBC that while most of Iran's drone and missile manufacturing facilities had been destroyed, the Iranians still had access to about a fifth of their missiles.

"They have some missiles, they have some drones. I would say percentage wise, maybe 21%-22% of their missiles. It's a lot of missiles, but it's not what it was when we first attacked," Trump told NBC News' "Meet the Press" program, according to excerpts released by the network on Friday.

Asked why Iran's leaders were not more inclined to strike a deal, if they were as desperate as he has portrayed them, Trump said:

"Because they are strong. They're proud. There are things they never thought they'd be doing that they're going to have to do, they've got no choice, and it takes a little while."

After the U.S. and Israel launched the war against Iran on February 28, Tehran attacked Gulf states hosting U.S. bases and largely stopped shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

The conflict has driven up oil prices and disrupted supply chains for other goods, including humanitarian aid.

Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader, told CNN on Friday that a peace deal hinged on the Trump administration unfreezing $24 billion in Iranian assets, and warned that the U.S. would "enter into a dark corridor" if it resumed attacks.

 

FIGHTING FLARES ACROSS REGION DESPITE CEASEFIRES

In a parallel conflict in Lebanon, two Lebanese army officers and a soldier were killed in an Israeli strike on a military vehicle in south Lebanon, the Lebanese army said. The Israeli military said it was investigating the incident.

Iran has made a ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah a condition for any peace deal with Washington.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem this week rejected a US-brokered pact between Israel and the Lebanese government to halt the fighting in Lebanon. The deal did not provide for an Israeli withdrawal and Hezbollah had not been party to the negotiations.

Israel has said its forces would not withdraw or halt operations in the country amid increasing friction with the US.