Sirens in Bahrain, Kuwait as Tehran responds to US attacks
BBC update
AIR raid sirens blare in Bahrain and Kuwait as Iran says it targeted “85 US military installations” over attacks on its Hormozgan province and the port city of Mahshahr.
The US says it launched the “powerful strikes” against Iran after attacks on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz, including Qatari and Saudi tankers.
The US also revokes a waiver that allowed Iran to sell oil under an interim peace agreement signed between Washington and Tehran on June 17.
The coffin of Iran’s slain supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, arrives in the Iraqi city of Najaf for a funeral procession.
Agencies add:
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they targeted U.S. military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait on Wednesday after the U.S. launched a wave of military strikes on Iran in response to attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
In the latest blow to the fragile ceasefire agreement, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it carried out a joint missile and drone operation against key U.S. military sites in Bandar Salman, Bahrain's Fifth Naval District and Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, and shot down a U.S. MQ-9 drone attempting to interfere in the operation.
Air raid sirens sounded in Bahrain and Kuwait, and the Kuwaiti army said air defences were confronting "hostile" missile and drone attacks. There was no immediate comment on the strikes from the U.S. military.
The U.S. earlier unleashed fresh military strikes and revoked a licence allowing Iran to sell oil in response to attacks on three tankers in the strait.
The U.S. Central Command said more than 60 small boats of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were among the targets hit during the operation, which was intended to impose a heavy cost on Iran for strikes on shipping in violation of the ceasefire.
"The unwarranted aggression by Iranian forces is a clear and dangerous violation of the ceasefire and undermines freedom of navigation," CENTCOM said in a statement.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told reporters before a summit of NATO leaders in Ankara that the new attacks by the U.S. on Iran were "absolutely necessary."
"When you have a ceasefire and Iran is basically violating the ceasefire, I think it is totally crucial that the U.S. forcefully react," Rutte said.
Iran's top joint military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, condemned the U.S. strikes as a "blatant act of aggression," threatened a "crushing response," and warned that Tehran would not allow U.S. interference in the management of the strait.
A top Iranian negotiator, parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, accused the U.S. of breaching the ceasefire agreement. He cited not only the latest U.S. military strikes, but renewed oil sanctions, violations of Iranian "adjustments" in the Strait of Hormuz, and Israeli attacks against Lebanon.
"The era of bullying and extortion is over," Qalibaf said in a post on X. "We don't fold."
Iranian media earlier reported explosions in Iran's main oil hub of Kharg Island, on Qeshm Island and in the southern port cities of Sirik and Bandar Abbas.
Iran's Press TV reported several blasts were heard in southern Kharg Island. CENTCOM made no mention of Kharg Island, from which Iran exports 90% of its crude oil.
A U.S. official told Reuters that strikes targeted Iranian air defence systems, coastal surveillance systems, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship cruise missiles and drone launch sites.
No civilian deaths were reported in Iran, but several people were injured by shrapnel from an "enemy projectile" that hit a commercial pier in Sirik, according to an Iranian state TV reporter. The reports said strikes also hit fishing piers in Sirik and in Bandar Abbas.
