Al Jazeera

By Enes Abuomer and Faisal Ali

    Iran claims attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, saying it hit US military sites, in retaliation for Washington’s renewed bombardment of its southern coast.

    The US attacks on southern Iran comes amid an intensifying standoff over the Strait of Hormuz, with explosions reported in port cities of Bandar Abbas, Sirik and Jask, as well as Qeshm Island.

    The exchange of fire come a day after the US military said it hit at least 140 targets in Iran, and Tehran launched retaliatory attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Jordan.

    US President Donald Trump claims that the Strait of Hormuz is “open”, while Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority insists no travel is allowed until “stability and calm are restored”.

Iran’s army says ‘drone attacks continue against US bases in the region’

    We now have a new statement from Iran on the attacks on Kuwait. This time, its from the Iranian Army.

    The statement, carried by the IRNA news agency, said drone attacks were continuing on US bases in the region and that the army launched “destructive drone” assaults on US forces in Kuwait, including defense and missile systems, bunkers and suport shelters.

    The army went on to condemn what it described as repeated US attacks on military sites, civilian infrastructure and civilians in Iran, calling them a “blatant violation” of the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter.

    The army said Iran’s armed forces would use their full capabilities to defend the country’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence and population against any further aggression.

    As we’ve been reporting, Iran’s IRGC earlier claimed attacks on Kuwait’s Ali Salem and Ahmad Al-Jaber bases.

US, Iran ‘almost back to war’ over ‘misunderstandings’ about Hormuz

By Mohamed Vall

Reporting from Doha, Qatar

    The MoU was signed several weeks ago. We are now almost at the end of the first month of the 60-day period given for a final deal. So that’s not a very hopeful situation, but countries in the region are continuing their [diplomatic] efforts.

    Qatar sent a delegation just a couple of days ago to Iran, and there has been negotiations between Iranians and Omanis to try to come to a deal regarding how to manage the Strait of Hormuz.

    Of course, that misunderstanding between the Americans and the Iranians is key here.

    The Iranians think that they have the prerogative, according to the MoU, to organise traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, which means they can give or deny permissions to ships, and [they believe that] any ships that cross the strait without advance Iranian permission have violated the MoU.

    But according to the American understanding, the Iranians have to step aside and allow free, unhindered traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. So that’s the subject of this conflict right now, and we are almost back to war because of this particular point and the misunderstanding about it.

    So that’s something that is hindering the peace efforts, and regional countries are still continuing to try to overcome this particular obstacle, including Pakistanis, Qataris and Omanis.

Sirens sound again in Bahrain

    Bahrain’s Interior Ministry says that sirens have been sounded again, warning people to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place.

With war on Iran, Trump took a ‘complex system and broke it’

    We have more from Alan Eyre, the former senior US diplomat and member of the US negotiating team for the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement.

    He said the US and Israel’s war on Iran has disrupted the region’s strategic balance.

    “With the war in June, and to a lesser extent last year as well, President Trump took the complex system and broke it,” Eyre told Al Jazeera. “It’s going to take time for this complex system in the Persian Gulf area to find a new balance, a new homeostasis. I don’t know how long it will take; I don’t know what it’ll be. But we do know it won’t be like it was before.”

    And “that’s unfortunate, because the new region is going to be far less stable, and Iran will be far more dangerous”, he said.

    Eyre suggested that the US may have to “accept increased Iranian control” of the Strait of Hormuz to reach a nuclear deal. He also pointed to a growing divergence between the US and Israel over how to proceed.

    “The US and Israel, at this point, have differing strategic goals,” Eyre said. “The US just wants to cut its losses, get the strait open, and move away, because it’s a quagmire. Israel thinks this is unfinished business – it wants to resume attacks, and wants the US to resume attacks against Iran and against Hezbollah.”

    “So it’s an incredibly dynamic situation”, he added, “with a lot of different variables in play”.

Iran claims attacks on Kuwait airbases

    The IRGC says it has “completely destroyed” fuel tanks and Patriot air defence systems at the Ali Al-Salem airbase, as well as a strategic FPS radar system at the Ahmed Al-Jaber airbase.

    In a statement, the IRGC said the attacks were carried out by its aerospace forces during the third phase of its “eye-for-an-eye” operation in response to US military action against Iran.

    The IRGC said the operation was continuing.

    It also warned against further US involvement in the Strait of Hormuz, saying that Iran would not allow continued foreign military interference in the waterway.

Explosions heard in Iran’s Bandar Abbas

    The IRNA news agency reports that at least two powerful explosions have been heard in Bandar Abbas, in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, in the past hour.

    The report came moments before US Central Command announced that its latest wave of attacks on Iran was over.

Iran claims attack on Bahrain’s Sheikh Isa airbase

    The IRGC says it targeted several facilities at the Sheikh Isa airbase in Bahrain in the second phase of its retaliatory operation.

    In a statement, the IRGC said its aerospace forces struck helicopter maintenance facilities, a hangar housing a P-8 aircraft and a US military drone command-and-control centre.

    The IRGC said the attacks were carried out in response to continued US military action against Iran. It added that its retaliatory attacks were continuing.

US military says ‘dozens of targets’ hit in Iran, including air defence systems

    More from the CENTCOM statement.

    It said it hit “dozens of targets at multiple locations with precision munitions to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking international shipping flowing through the Strait of Hormuz”.

    These targets include “Iranian military air-defense systems, coastal radar sites, missile and drone capabilities, and small boats”.

    CENTCOM said it deployed “US fighter aircraft, naval vessels, one-way attack aerial drones, and one-way attack sea drones for the first time”.

US military says latest wave of attacks against Iran now over

    US Central Command says it has “completed a new wave of offensive strikes against Iran”.

Iran claims attacks on Jordan’s Prince Hassan airbase

    The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it targeted the Prince Hassan airbase in Jordan with missiles and drones, setting fire to several fuel depots and ammunition storage facilities.

    In a statement, the IRGC said the attack was the first phase of its response to US strikes on Iranian coastal military bases.

    It said the US attacks followed an operation by the IRGC Navy to stop two ships in the Strait of Hormuz, which it accused of “switching off their tracking systems, travelling illegally and endangering navigation”.

    The IRGC said its retaliatory operations are continuing and that the results would be announced in subsequent statements.

Iran launches missile, drone attacks on ‘enemy bases’, state media report

    Iran’s Nour News Agency reports that the Iranian Army and the IRGC have launched “large-scale missile and drone attacks” on “enemy bases in the region”.

    Citing an Iranian military official, the agency said the operation was launched in response to the US’s continuing attacks on Iran and targeted sites identified following “enemy movements” over the past 48 hours.

US strikes cannot ‘sufficiently degrade’ Iran’s ability to disrupt Hormuz shipping

    Alan Eyre, a distinguished diplomatic fellow at the Middle East Institute, says Iran views control of the Strait of Hormuz as its primary strategic deterrent and is not yet prepared to relinquish it.

    But “this is something that the US is not yet willing to accept”, said Eyre, who served on the US team that negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which Trump later withdrew from.

    “So, forget about talking about the nuclear issue. This is the main speed bump that has to be negotiated and navigated if we want a resolution for the nuclear issue. And right now, I don’t see that happening,” Eyre said.

    He added that the US’s ongoing strikes would not “sufficiently degrade” Iran’s ability to threaten shipping through the strait.

    “The US is, again, doing what it does best: attacking Iran militarily, because we do have military supremacy. But the unfortunate reality is that no matter how much we strike the coastal areas, we cannot sufficiently degrade Iran’s potential to threaten shipping through this strait,” Eyre said.

    And that’s “because Iran has so many missiles, so many drones, so many smaller attack craft that can threaten vessels”, he added.

Trump claims he has 59 percent approval rating

    The US president has said in a Truth Social post that he has a 59 percent approval rating, while also claiming that prices are falling, alongside oil and gas costs.

    “59% Approval Rating. Prices coming down along with the lowering of oil and gas,” Trump wrote in the brief post.

    He did not specify the source for the approval rating figure, but the latest polls, including from HarrisX and Quantus Insights this month, show that some 43 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s performance, while some 54-55 percent disapprove.

    Meanwhile, global oil prices are also surging amid the renewed tensions in the Gulf, with Brent crude climbing about 3.3 percent to about $78.50 a barrel.

Sirens blare in Bahrain

    Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior has said air raid sirens have been activated.

    The ministry also advised people to avoid using or obstructing main roads unless necessary and said that further safety instructions would follow.

    Trump has declared the waterway open, while Iran insists it is closed, leading to a further escalation of attacks.

US strikes hit eight towns across Iran’s Khuzestan province, official says

    We have more on the US attacks on Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province.

    Valiollah Hayati, the province’s deputy governor for security and law enforcement, told the semi-official ISNA news agency that US forces attacked at least eight locations across Khuzestan in recent hours.

    The strikes landed in a series of waves between 1:35am and 2:20am local time.

    He said officials were still assessing the damage in each area and denied that Ahvaz airport had been struck, saying the two impact points near the city were on its outskirts.

    Earlier, Hayati had said that one person was killed and four others wounded after a projectile hit an agricultural water pumping station in Mahshahr.

Oil prices could rise above $80 a barrel if violence persists

    Omid Shokri, an energy expert and senior visiting fellow at George Mason University, told Al Jazeera that Brent crude, the main benchmark for oil prices, could rise above $80 if the violence persists, “as traders add a larger geopolitical risk premium”.

    “The much greater upside risk would emerge if the fighting restricts tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, or damages Gulf production and export infrastructure,” he added.

    Shokri said prices are likely to remain elevated for as long as traders perceive the agreements underpinning the truce between Iran and the US as fragile.

    “As a result, price volatility is likely to remain elevated even during periods of relative calm,” he said. “Ultimately, the duration of elevated oil prices will be determined by the extent of actual supply disruptions, not by fragile agreements alone.”

Oil prices surge as US, Iran exchange tit-for-tat attacks

    Oil prices have spiked again after the US renewed strikes on Iran over the standoff on the Strait of Hormuz.

    Brent crude climbed 3.3 percent in early trade to reach $78.50 a barrel, up from the recent trough of $70.14, while US crude added 3.4 percent to $73.83 a barrel.

Iran accuses US of ‘overt and covert pressure’ on Oman

    We have more from the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s statement that condemned the US’s “aggressive” attacks against the country.

    The statement also addressed the talks between Iran and Oman on Saturday in Muscat.

    It said the talks focused on arrangements for managing the Strait of Hormuz and that, “unfortunately, the US prevented a result on this issue through overt and covert pressure on Oman”. It also rejected Trump’s claims about the outcome of the talks as “pure falsehoods born of desperation”.

    Trump had told US media that Iran had agreed to a deal on Saturday, where “they were giving up everything”, but “then, all of a sudden, two hours after that, they hit a ship with a drone”.

    Earlier, sources told Al Jazeera that during Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s meeting with his Omani counterpart, Badr Albusaidi, on Saturday, Muscat had proposed two separately-controlled routes in the Strait of Hormuz, one through Iranian territorial waters and one through Omani waters.

US attack on water pumping station in Iran’s Mahshar kills 1, wounds 4

    A senior official in Iran’s Khuzestan province says one person has been killed and four others injured after a projectile hit an agricultural water pumping station in Mahshahr, according to the IRNA news agency.

    Valiollah Hayati, the deputy governor for security and law enforcement, said the attack took place in the early hours of today, adding that the person killed was a guard at the facility.