By Tala Ramadan and Eman Abouhassira and Phil Stewart
DUBAI/WASHINGTON, 28 June (Reuters) – Iran launched missiles and drones against US military installations in Kuwait and Bahrain in the early hours of Sunday, shortly after US President Donald Trump threatened to annihilate the Iranian leadership if it did not comply with the interim agreement to end the war.
Israel said on Sunday it had attacked armed Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon on Saturday, just a day after it agreed the latest ceasefire deal with Lebanon to calm fighting that Iran says must stop for the broader agreement to be maintained.
The US military earlier said it had attacked Iran again, hours after an oil tanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important energy transport route, which Tehran has kept largely closed for most of the conflict.
“There may come a time when we will no longer be able to act sensibly and we will be forced to complete militarily the task we began with great success,” Trump said on social media.
“If this happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!” he added.
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The 14-point interim peace agreement was aimed at stopping the fighting, which began by the US and Israel on February 28, and reopening the strait while negotiations on issues including Iran’s nuclear program continued.
VIOLENCE AND ACCUSATIONS FOLLOW PEACE AGREEMENT
A round of mediated talks, led by US Vice President JD Vance and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, was held in Switzerland a week ago, and Washington lifted sanctions on Tehran, but fighting has resumed and intensified since then.
About an hour after Trump’s post, Kuwait’s army reported that its air defenses were responding to missile and drone attacks, while Bahrain reported that sirens had sounded across the country.
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Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement that its navy and air forces had launched missile and drone operations against US military installations in Kuwait and Bahrain.
The Guard said the US strikes violated the ceasefire and “will result in the complete interruption of all diplomatic processes,” state broadcaster Press TV reported. The IRGC navy command said that US bases in the region “will go through hell in the coming days”.
A US official, in confirming the attacks on US facilities, told Reuters that there were no reports of US casualties or serious damage to US facilities in the Middle East, but that the situation was still developing.
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Hours later, alarms sounded for the second time in Bahrain, where authorities reported that an Iranian attack damaged a residential building in Muharraq province, with no casualties reported. Bahrain urged the UN Security Council to hold an emergency session to hold Iran accountable.
The Kuwaiti army reported having intercepted two ballistic missiles, causing no damage or casualties.
FOCUS ON THE STRAIT AND ON THE FRAGILE Ceasefire in Lebanon
US Central Command previously reported that its forces had carried out new attacks after a Panama-flagged oil tanker was attacked by an Iranian drone on Saturday.
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“Iran had the chance to honor the ceasefire agreement, but chose not to do so,” Central Command said in a statement.
The US strikes were “a direct response to continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping” and targeted Iranian military installations for surveillance, communications, air defense, drone storage and mine laying, the command said.
Explosions were heard in Sirik in southern Iran, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported, without providing details. The Revolutionary Guard stated that “the United States’ blind attacks against Sirik will not shake our dominance over the Strait of Hormuz. But our attacks against violators will serve as a reminder to other vessels of the route of safe passage.”
The attack on an oil tanker in the strait on Saturday followed another on a cargo ship on Thursday, which triggered the latest escalation.
NON-LEBANON ATTACKS
In Lebanon, Israel reported on Sunday that it had killed Hezbollah militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and hit a rocket launcher in the Nabatieh region.
There was no immediate response from Hezbollah.
Israel, which is not part of the U.S.-Iran deal, and Lebanon have repeatedly agreed to U.S.-brokered ceasefires, most recently on Friday.
However, these agreements have had limited effect, with Israel insisting it will not withdraw from the Lebanese territory it occupied and Hezbollah repeatedly rejecting calls for it to hand over its weapons while Israeli troops remain in place.
(Reporting from Reuters offices; Text by William Mallard and Alexander Smith)
