The Iranian foreign minister has issued a stern warning that challenging Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz could heighten tensions. This follows a series of retaliatory incidents with the United States and social media threats from the US president signaling annihilation.
On a visit to Iraq this Sunday, Abbas Araghchi emphasized, “Any effort to establish new or standalone approaches, beyond those already managed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, will only lead to more complicated scenarios and postpone the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, amplifying tensions, as witnessed over the past two nights.”
Araghchi urged all involved parties to “stay committed to the memorandum of understanding and prevent any deviation from its intended direction,” while suggesting a novel security agreement among Gulf nations.
“A new framework should be established that encompasses all countries in the region, without the involvement or intrusion of any external nations,” he stated.
These remarks followed a declaration from US President Donald Trump on Sunday, asserting that “the Islamic Republic of Iran will cease to exist” if America is “compelled” to renew conflict, accusing Iran of breaching the ceasefire.
“United States aircraft just struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites, for violating the Cease Fire Agreement, AGAIN!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started,” he continued.
“If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!”
The clashes brought new tension to the negotiating process meant to end a war launched by the US and Israel at the end of February.
They also underlined the risks still facing one of the world’s most important sea lanes for oil and other commodities.
US Central Command said it had struck 10 Iranian military targets in response to an Iranian drone attack on the Panama-flagged oil tanker Kiku, which was carrying some two million barrels of crude.
The US military said the response targeted “surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities, and minelayer capabilities”.
Iranian media reported several explosions in the Sirik and Qeshm areas of southern Iran.
Iran strikes Gulf states, warns of ‘broader’ response
In retaliation, Iran launched multiple missiles and drones toward neighbouring countries, including Bahrain and Kuwait.
The Bahraini military said it had “intercepted and destroyed a number of projectiles used in these treacherous Iranian attacks”, adding that it was on “maximum alert”.
Kuwait’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it “expresses its condemnation and denunciation of… in the strongest terms, the recurrence of Iran’s heinous aggression against the State of Kuwait”.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters said there were no reported US casualties or major impacts or damage to US facilities in the Middle East at this time.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement that US violations of the ceasefire are “contrary” to the recently signed “memorandum of understanding” and “will result in the complete halt of all diplomatic processes”.
“If the aggression is repeated, our response will be broader,” it added.
The group also said they were taking measures to control traffic in the vital Strait of Hormuz and that violating vessels would be dealt with more firmly than before. The only passage authorised by Tehran passes through a corridor running along Iran’s coast.
The IRGC said Iran’s retaliatory strikes had “destroyed eight important US military facilities at the Ali al-Salem base in Kuwait and at the Fifth Fleet naval base in Port Salman in Bahrain”.
Israel, meanwhile, launched strikes in Lebanon. Hezbollah’s leader Naim Qassem rejected a deal to end that conflict, which has also threatened to derail the wider US-Iran peace effort.
Iran called “these brutal attacks … a blatant violation” of the interim truce deal.
Shipping lanes under fire
The flare-ups in violence highlighted ongoing wrangling over control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has warned vessels not to enter or leave the Gulf through the strait without permission, but some vessels have continued to use a non-Iranian-approved passage in the strategic waterway, tracking platforms showed Friday.
The IRGC said a day earlier that Oman and the International Maritime Organization announced the new corridor without consulting Tehran, and warned vessels against using it.
HA Hellyer, of London think tank the Royal United Services Institute, said: “Iran is likely to continue calibrated, low-level coercive activity in and around the Strait of Hormuz … to create persistent pressure on international shipping without triggering a wider conflict.”
He said November’s US midterm elections for Congress give Washington “incentives for a quicker agreement” while, for Iran, “a drawn-out negotiation accompanied by controlled pressure in the strait can work to its advantage”.
Despite the latest flare-up, oil prices have fallen sharply on hopes that traffic through Hormuz would recover. In peacetime, it carries about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas exports.
The economic impact on Iran remains unclear, but on Saturday, the country’s statistics agency said that year-on-year inflation had hit 88.6 per cent, up from 68 pe rcent in February.
Lebanon threats
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war in early March, when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in support of Iran. That provoked an Israeli invasion and fighting that has also undermined the US-Iran ceasefire.
Israel and Lebanon signed an agreement on Friday supported by the US aimed at securing long-term peace between the two countries.
Hezbollah’s chief Qassem rejected the deal a day later, calling it “humiliating, shameful and a surrender of sovereignty”.
He instead called for the full implementation of Washington’s deal with Iran, which includes an end to the fighting in Lebanon.
Hezbollah has repeatedly called for a full Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, but the Washington deal does not appear to provide for that.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted Israeli troops will remain in the so-called security zone they occupy in southern Lebanon, with civilians prevented from returning until Hezbollah is disarmed.
The Israeli premier called the deal “historic” on Saturday and “a blow to Iran and Hezbollah”.
But Netanyahu’s far-right security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, denounced it as “a big mistake” and insisted that only Israeli forces were capable of disarming Hezbollah.
The Israeli military said it carried out an airstrike on Saturday targeting suspected militants in Lebanon’s south — the first such attack since Washington announced the agreement between the two countries.
Lebanon’s National News Agency then reported early Saturday evening that Israel had carried out fresh strikes in the south of the country.
The health ministry later reported at least one killed and two wounded in an Israeli airstrike on Nabatieh al-Fawqa.