US forces intercepted Iranian ballistic missiles and drones aimed at neighboring Middle East countries and struck a command center in the Islamic Republic in response – the latest flare-up to test a fragile ceasefire.
US Central Command said Iran on Tuesday launched several ballistic missiles toward countries including Kuwait and Bahrain. Some were shot down by US and Bahraini air defenses and none hit their targets, Centcom said in a statement.
US forces intercepted an additional wave of drones attempting to strike American forces in Kuwait, Centcom said, adding that no US personnel or assets were harmed. The US hit an Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island in response, with Centcom calling the strike an act of self-defense.
The exchange followed days of Israeli military escalation against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, prompting a phone call between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The leaders offered differing accounts on what was agreed – with the US president initially suggesting a broader truce than his counterpart was willing to declare.
Tensions also remain high after the US attacked Iranian radar and command-and-control sites over the weekend, with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps trying to target an air base in retaliation.
Trump has spent months projecting confidence that a deal to end the Iran conflict is within reach. Israel’s determination to press ahead with its own objectives underscores his tenuous control over the outcome of the crisis.
The episode cast a fresh spotlight on an element of the war Trump has largely refused to acknowledge: The US and Israel have very different ideas about what an end to the war should look like. That divide is jeopardizing the fragile, long-running negotiations between Washington and Tehran, which insists that Lebanon must be part of any peace agreement.
The primary focus for the oil market remains the Strait of Hormuz, which handled about one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows before the war began – with visible commercial traffic through the waterway remaining limited. Brent crude rose 1 percent to $97 as fresh fighting flared up.
While Trump has repeatedly cast Iran as desperate for a deal, the Islamic Republic said Monday that talks through mediators were suspended. Trump on Tuesday denied that talks had stopped.
Israel has said its campaign against Hezbollah, which is considered a terrorist group by the US, is central to its own security and the region’s.
The US and Israel started the war together, launching joint attacks on Iran at the end of February, but the signs of a rift between them could now complicate Trump’s efforts to end it.
The US president also faces the challenge of convincing observers – including oil-market traders – that he can break the conflict’s recurring cycle of escalation and diplomacy.
As a tentative US-Iran ceasefire was brokered in early April, Israel ramped up its campaign in Lebanon, then Iran threatened to quit talks. Trump held a call with Netanyahu, and the Israeli leader offered a pledge to halt attacks – a pattern of events that has more or less repeated itself over the last two days.
US and Iranian negotiators are grappling with several other critical questions, including freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, the future of Iranian funds frozen abroad and the scope of any broader regional security arrangements.
Iran has denounced Israel’s deepening invasion of Lebanon and said it might increase restrictions on traffic in the strait, close the Bab el-Mandeb strait as well, and strike Israel directly.
Here’s more on the Iran war:
- American allies in the Arab world and Europe have called for a halt to the Lebanon conflict. Fighting continued there overnight, with attacks reported by both sides. More than 3,000 people have been killed and about 1 million displaced.
- Trump has said that Israeli forces would not move against Beirut, suggesting a broad ceasefire had been struck between Israel and Hezbollah.
- Netanyahu confirmed a tentative ceasefire in northern Lebanon while affirming that Israel would keep up operations in the southern part of the country. Trump later followed with a post that focused on his stated success in convincing Netanyahu to turn “his troops around” from Beirut.
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