Online Reporter
United States forces struck Iranian coastal radar sites yesterday after shooting down drones launched by Iran towards the Strait of Hormuz, the US military said, in the latest escalation complicating efforts to end the war between the two countries.
The US military believes the four Iranian drones were targeting regional maritime traffic, a US official told Reuters.
US Central Command said on X that the US then struck Iran’s surveillance sites in Goruk and Qeshm Island, which are both on the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had targeted US bases in the region with missiles in retaliation for US strikes and fired on four tankers attempting to cross the strait without its permission.
Kuwaiti air defences were intercepting missile and drone attacks of undisclosed origin, state media reported, while in Bahrain sirens sounded and residents were urged to seek shelter.
Iran said it had hit US bases in both countries with ballistic missiles, but the US military said six missiles were intercepted and a seventh did not reach its target.
The US and Iran have been engaged in largely undirect negotiations to secure an interim deal to halt the three-month-old war that would leave issues including Iran’s nuclear programme to further negotiations
Iran has effectively blocked the strait, where about a fifth of the world’s oil transited before the war.
US President Donald Trump is facing mounting domestic political pressure due to rising petrol prices to bring the unpopular war to an end. He told NBC that while most of Iran’s drone and missile manufacturing facilities had been destroyed, the Iranians still have access to about a fifth of their missiles. — Reuters
