U.S. and Iran Exchange Strikes After Reported Violations of Ceasefire Terms

Iran said Sunday it carried out strikes on U.S. military facilities in Kuwait and Bahrain in response to U.S. attacks on Iranian territory. ” Air raid sirens sounded twice in Bahrain on Sunday, according to the Gulf nation’s Interior Ministry. A U.S. official confirmed the attacks on the facilities but said there were no reported U.S. casualties or major damage to U.S. sites in the Middle East at this time.

President Donald Trump said Saturday that Iran would “no longer exist” if the United States is “forced” to resume the war. ” The U.S. Central Command said Saturday’s strikes responded to an Iranian drone attack on the Panama-flagged oil tanker Kiku, which was carrying some 2 million barrels of crude.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Sunday they were taking measures to control traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and that violating vessels would be dealt with more firmly than before. The only authorized passage by Tehran passes through a corridor running along Iran’s coast.

In a prior memorandum of understanding, Iran had agreed to permit “safe passage of commercial vessels with no charge, for 60 days only, from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Oman, and vice versa” in the strait.

Iran’s foreign minister warned that any challenge to Hormuz routes will “increase tensions.” Iran called the U.S. strikes “a blatant violation” of the interim truce deal. Israel launched strikes in Lebanon as Hezbollah’s leader Naim Qassem rejected a deal to end that conflict.