IRAN WAR LATEST: U.S., Iran trade strikes in most serious clash since ceasefire began
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Iran and the United States traded strikes on Thursday in what was their most serious clash since the ceasefire in April began.
The latest violence exchange also drew in Kuwait, an ally to the U.S., which said it was responding to incoming fire, coming in on the war’s Lebanese front, which escalated after Israel declared much of southern Lebanon as a combat zone.
Iranian forces fired at four ships attempting to cross Hormuz, according to state broadcaster IRIB. U.S. forces struck a ground control station in the southern port area of Bandar Abbas, a U.S. official said, prompting Iran to then target “the American air base that served as the source of the attack”, according to IRIB, citing the country’s Revolutionary Guards, per AFP .
The violent exchange underscored the uncertainty surrounding the negotiations aimed at formally ending the conflict that began on Feb. 28 with US-Israeli attacks on Iran. However, neither side has appeared eager to return to all-out war.
Here’s the latest on the Iran war on Thursday:
Iran supports Oman after Trump’s ‘blow them up’ comment
Iran is showing solidarity with Oman after “U.S. officials’ threats,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said in a statement, which also condemned U.S. attacks on areas in Bandar Abbas.
Hours before the U.S. strikes, U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to threaten Oman, stating: “Nobody’s going to control [the strait],” he said, per Reuters .
“We’ll watch over it. But nobody’s going to control it. That’s part of the negotiation that we have,” Trump continued. “They would like to control it. Nobody’s going to control it.
“It’s international waters and Oman will behave just like everybody else or we’ll have to blow them up. They understand that, they’ll be fine.”
Lebanon strikes
In Lebanon, a separate ceasefire has done little to stop the fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah.
The Israeli military said it had begun new strikes on Hezbollah infrastructure around Tyre after issuing an evacuation warning to residents of the southern city.
On Wednesday, it had declared all areas south of Lebanon’s Zahrani River as “combat zones” and told residents to leave, AFP reported.
The National News Agency in Lebanon also reported a series of strikes on Nabatieh city.
The Israeli military said that a soldier was killed the day before by a Hezbollah drone near the Lebanon border.
Iran has also insisted that any agreement must apply to Lebanon.
Iran, U.S. trade strikes
The U.S. and Iran traded strikes in their most serious clash since an April ceasefire began, rattling ongoing efforts to negotiate an end to the war and open the Strait of Hormuz, AFP reported.
The latest exchange also drew in Kuwait, which said it was responding to incoming fire. It came as violence on the war’s Lebanese front escalated after Israel declared much of southern Lebanon as a combat zone.
Iranian forces fired at four ships attempting to cross the strait, according to state broadcaster IRIB. Iran has blockaded the waterway since the start of the war in late February.
U.S. military struck a ground control station in the southern port area of Bandar Abbas, a U.S. official said, prompting Iran to then target “the American air base that served as the source of the attack”, according to IRIB, citing the country’s Revolutionary Guards.
The Guards did not provide details on the location of the base, though Kuwait, which hosts U.S. troops, said its air defences were responding to an attack.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei condemned the U.S. strikes and said the Islamic Republic would “take all necessary measures to defend its national sovereignty”.
The ministry called the strikes “violations” of the truce, though the U.S. official described them as “purely defensive, and intended to maintain the ceasefire”.