Iran bombs US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain and threatens to withdraw from ceasefire if Trump’s attacks continue | International

Iran has bombed bases used by the United States in Kuwait and Bahrain with drones and missiles during the early hours of Saturday to Sunday in response to the attacks that Washington has also carried out against Iranian territory. The Revolutionary Guard, the paramilitary body that is among the most intransigent factions of the Islamic Republic, has threatened to withdraw from the ceasefire agreement signed on the 17th if the US offensive actions, initiated in response to the Iranian drone attack, continue. against ships transiting Hormuz. Tehran demands to be the only one to coordinate traffic in that narrow keyat least until a new arrangement is negotiated for the control of this route, through which an important fraction of the hydrocarbons and fertilizers that the planet consumes flow every day.

This increase in tension in the area is accompanied by increasingly explicit threats that call into question the validity of a ceasefire reached just 11 days ago. To the statements of the Vice President of the United States, JD Vance, that his country would respond with violence to violence, has since been joined by the president himself, Donald Trump, who threatens to end the very existence of the Islamic Republic.

Commenting on the latest exchanges of fire between the two countries, the Republican has accused Iran of violating the ceasefire agreement once again. “It is very possible that they will never learn! There could come a time when we can no longer act sensibly and we will be forced to complete by military means the task that we began with great success. If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will cease to exist!”, he wrote in a message on his social network, Truth.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard reported that US strikes on Saturday night had hit five coastal points along the Strait of Hormuz, including the island of Qeshm, and the port towns of Bandar-e Lengeh and Sirik. The US attacks on Saturday were larger than those of the previous day, according to a senior Republican Administration official cited by The New York Times. To this blow, Iran responded by bombing “eight US military installations” in the region, including the Ali al Salem air base, used jointly by the US and Kuwaiti air forces, and the command of the US Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain.

Anti-missile sirens sounded in both countries throughout the night and part of the morning, and the Bahraini interior minister urged residents to “stay calm and go to the nearest safe place.” Although the island nation’s air defenses shot down most of the Iranian drones and missiles, a residential building near Manama International Airport was damaged, according to local authorities, although there were no fatalities. An American official source explained to the Reuters agency that there were no casualties among his military either.

For the moment, the only fatality that has been reported is that of a Qatari citizen aboard a boat after being hit by “shrapnel resulting from military operations in the area,” the Qatari Ministry of the Interior explained in a statement. It is not clear when exactly or whose fire this person died from. The Qatari statement states that the boat in which the victim and another crew member – who was injured – were traveling did not return to port as planned on Saturday night and could only be located by the coast guard on Sunday morning.

The Kuwaiti Armed Forces reported that its air defenses “intercepted” the ballistic missiles launched by Iran, the number of which was not specified. The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry denounced this attack that “undermines international efforts in favor of de-escalation” and warned that its country “reserves the right to take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty and security.”

The Bahraini Foreign Ministry harshly condemned the Iranian attack and called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to stop the escalation. Its head, Abdulatif al Zayani, held a conversation with the head of Pakistani diplomacy, Ishaq Dar, who has acted as a mediator between the Americans and Iranians to achieve a ceasefire.

“They will experience hell”

In turn, the Iranian Foreign Ministry has condemned the “brutal attacks” by the United States against its territory, a country that it has accused of “not giving the slightest value to its commitments.” “Breaking promises is part of the nature of that regime,” denounced Iranian diplomacy. For Iran, the US bombings are a violation of the first clause of the ceasefire agreement (Washington and Tehran “undertake from now on not to start any war or military operation against each other”) and, in fact, the Revolutionary Guard has threatened to break the ceasefire completely.

“Although, as on Friday and Saturday night, the (American) aggressions are directed against smaller targets, they will receive a forceful response. The enemy must know that violating the ceasefire contravenes the first clause of the Islamabad agreement and will lead to the total paralysis of all (negotiating) processes,” the paramilitary body said in a statement.

Aside from the continuous violations of the ceasefire by Israel with its attacks in Lebanon – something that is continually highlighted from Tehran – Washington maintains that the first to violate the ceasefire have been the Iranians, with the attack on Thursday on a freighter of the Taiwanese company Evergreen and, on Saturday, on an oil tanker loaded in Qatar. However, the Iranians understand that they have the right to take these measures and manage traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, according to their interpretation of the ambiguous wording of the fifth clause of the agreement. “Upon signing this Memorandum of Understanding, the Islamic Republic of Iran undertakes to make all necessary preparations for the safe passage of merchant ships – free of charge for 60 days – from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Oman and vice versa. Merchant ship traffic will begin immediately and, considering the need to remove technical and military obstacles, the Islamic Republic of Iran will begin demining within 30 days,” it states. the agreement.

“The Strait of Hormuz remains under the full supervision and management of Iran for the next month, and once all obstacles are removed, the full capacity of the sea route will be restored. We are working on this,” explained Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi, on an official visit to Iraq. “This responsibility lies with the Islamic Republic of Iran. There is no other party or State involved. This is completely clear in the memorandum of understanding, and any intervention or unilateral action will aggravate the situation and delay the reopening of the strait,” he warned.

Even harsher was the Navy linked to the Revolutionary Guard (Iran has two different Naval Forces) which, in a statement, warned that “US bases in the region will experience hell these days.” In addition, he stated that the Iranian attacks serve to “remind” ships what route to use in Hormuz should be.

One of the reasons for the current escalation is that the majority of ships from large international shipping companies had chosen to use the southern route of the strait, which runs through Omani waters and has US military protection. But this reduces the pressure power of Iran, which requires all ships entering or leaving the Persian Gulf to coordinate with its port authorities and to preferably use the northern route, through Iranian waters.

Attacks on ships have forced the International Maritime Organization (IMO, dependent on the UN) to suspend its evacuation plan for ships and sailors trapped since the start of the war and they have reduced traffic, especially on the southern route: from the 60 ships a day that crossed the strait on Wednesday and Thursday, it has dropped to around 40 the last two days.

The ship monitoring platforms show little traffic on the southern route, although on one of them, MarineTraffic has been able to observe how, on Sunday morning, two supertankers and two large capacity butane tankers entered the Gulf forming a line and possibly escorted by US forces.