Iran, US continue escalating attacks, recriminations over peace deal

Iran and the U.S. continued their attacks in the Gulf as each accused the other of violating an interim deal signed less than two weeks ago to end their four-month-old war.

Shortly after President Donald Trump warned the U.S. might "militarily complete ‌the job," Iran early on Sunday launched missiles and drones on U.S. military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain, continuing a series of escalating attacks.

The U.S. military said earlier it had struck Iran again, hours after a tanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important energy shipping route, which Iran had largely cut off for most of the conflict.

The 14-point U.S.-Iran interim agreement was meant to halt the fighting, which the U.S. and Israel started on February 28, and reopen the strait to shipping while talks began on more deep-seated issues, such as Iran's nuclear program.

"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," Trump posted on social media. "If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!"

About an hour after Trump's post, the Kuwaiti army said its air defences were responding to "hostile" missile and drone attacks, while sirens sounded in Bahrain, according to that country's interior ministry.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said its navy and air forces had launched joint missile and drone operations targeting U.S. military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain in response to recent U.S. strikes against Iran.

A U.S. official, confirming the attacks on the facilities, said the situation was still unfolding but there were no reported U.S. casualties or major damage to U.S. sites in the Middle East at this time.

The Guards said in a statement U.S. strikes had violated the ceasefire and "will result in the complete halt of all diplomatic processes," according to state-run Press TV. American bases in the region "will experience hell in the coming days," the statement said.

U.S. Central Command said earlier that its forces had carried out fresh strikes after a Panama-flagged tanker was attacked by an Iranian ‌drone on ⁠Saturday.

"Iran was given a chance to honor the ceasefire agreement but elected not to," Central Command said in a statement, adding the strikes were "in direct response to continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping" and targeted Iranian military surveillance, communications, air defence, drone storage and mine-laying facilities.

Iranian state broadcaster IRIB said explosions were heard in Sirik in southern Iran, without providing further details. The Guards said "America's blind shots at Sirik will not resolve our dominance over the Strait of Hormuz. But our shots at violators will remind the rest of the vessels of the clear passage route."

Reuters