A new round of escalating strikes between Iran and the US continued on Sunday, further undermining the fragile interim peace agreement between the two countries, and prompting Donald Trump to threaten violence that would ensure Iran “will no longer exist.”
Iran Launches Retaliatory Strikes
On Sunday, Tehran launched drone and missile attacks against Bahrain and Kuwait after new US strikes on sites in southern Iran, and threatened a “complete halt” to negotiations to end the war. Trump said that a moment might come soon when he abandoned talks and the US would “militarily finish the job.”
The US president posted on social media: “If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!”
Impact on Gulf States
Kuwait, which hosts a major US army base, said it had intercepted two ballistic missiles and that there were no reports of injuries or damage, while Bahrain’s interior ministry said the Iranian strikes had damaged a residential building near the international airport and that no one had been killed.
Qatar’s interior ministry said one Qatari national had been killed and a second person injured by shrapnel from “military operations in the area.” The two were on a boat that went missing on Saturday and was located early on Sunday. The ministry did not give the location of the incident and did not say whether the shrapnel was linked to the Iranian drone attacks.
Strait of Hormuz Dispute
The latest violence has been triggered by efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping without Iran’s direct oversight. The strategically critical waterway, which carried a fifth of the world’s oil and liquid gas supplies before the war, has long been considered an international passageway.
US Central Command said in a statement that its strikes were “in direct response to continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping” and had targeted Iranian military surveillance, communications, air defence, drone storage and mine-laying facilities.
Washington has been promoting a southern lane along the coast of Oman, while Tehran, which ultimately aims to charge fees for use of the strait, wants ships to use a northern route through its waters and under its control.
Hundreds of vessels, including tankers laden with oil, have been blockaded inside the Gulf by the closure of the strait since war broke out. Some have chanced the passage through the past two weeks, leading oil prices to drop to close to prewar levels and bringing relief to economies around the world.
Iran’s Position
Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, restated Tehran’s claim to sole control of the waterway during a state visit to Iraq on Sunday. He said in Baghdad: “Any interference in this matter, any attempt to establish new or separate arrangements from those currently being carried out by the Islamic Republic of Iran, will only lead to further complications, delay the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and increase the level of tension.”
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed responsibility for both new attacks on Sunday. It said: “Let the enemy know that violating the ceasefire … will lead to a complete halt of ongoing processes.”
US President Donald Trump early on Sunday said that Iran would “no longer exist” if the United States is “forced” to resume the war. “United States aircraft just struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites, for violating the Cease Fire Agreement, AGAIN!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
IRGC Warns of Crushing Response
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Sunday they were taking measures to control traffic in the vital Strait of Hormuz and that violating vessels would be dealt with more firmly than before. The only authorised passage by Tehran passes through a corridor running along Iran’s coast.
The Guards said they had also carried out retaliatory strikes in Kuwait and Bahrain. In a statement, they said the strikes “destroyed eight important US military facilities at the Ali al-Salem base in Kuwait and at the Fifth Fleet naval base in Port Salman in Bahrain.”
“Any enemy aggression, whatever the pretext, even against insignificant targets… will have a crushing response,” the IRGC said.
Air raid sirens rang out twice in Bahrain on Sunday, according to the Gulf nation’s interior ministry. The Guards said in a statement that the US strikes had violated the ceasefire and “will result in the complete halt of all diplomatic processes,” according to state-run Press TV. The IRGC navy command said American bases in the region “will experience hell in the coming days.”
A US official, confirming the attacks on US facilities, told a news wire there were no reported US casualties or major damage to US sites in the Middle East but that the situation was still unfolding.
Hours later, alarms sounded for a second time in Bahrain, with the authorities saying an Iranian attack damaged a residential building in Muharraq province, with no casualties reported. Bahrain urged the United Nations Security Council to hold an urgent session to hold Iran accountable. The Kuwaiti army said it had intercepted two ballistic missiles with no damage or casualties.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Reiterates Control of Strait
Iran’s foreign minister said the Strait of Hormuz remained under total Iranian control during a visit to Iraq. “I have briefed my counterpart on the latest outcomes of the war imposed on Iran, and also the developments with respect to the memorandum of understanding signed between Iran and the United States,” said Araghchi.
“The Strait of Hormuz remains under the total oversight and management of Iran through the 30 coming days, and after all obstacles are removed, the total capacity of the waterway will be restored. This is what we are working on,” he added.
Araghchi said all aspects of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with the United States must be honoured, including the clauses on Lebanon. “Regrettably, the Zionist entity continues its air strikes on Lebanon,” Araghchi said in Baghdad, adding the MoU was also accepted by Israel. Washington “should live up to its responsibility and force” Israel to end its attacks on Lebanon to end the war, he said.
Araghchi also called on Washington to push Israel to withdraw from the areas it has been occupying in Lebanon. “This was the first clause of the MoU,” he noted. He warned that any challenge to the country’s control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz would increase tensions despite ongoing peace negotiations to end the Middle East war.
Tehran’s top diplomat called on all parties to “adhere to the memorandum of understanding and not to allow this MoU to deviate from its course” after both sides traded attacks in recent days.
Regional Reactions
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said, “These escalatory acts constitute a flagrant violation of state sovereignty and a direct threat to the security and stability of the region,” Al Jazeera reports. A statement released by his office said Aoun viewed the ongoing attacks within the framework of undermining “all regional and international efforts and initiatives aimed at halting the war and containing the tensions.” The situation “necessitates urgent action by the sponsors of the US-Iranian memorandum of understanding and the international community.” The president also affirmed Lebanon’s “full solidarity with Bahrain and Kuwait.”
Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), said the strikes “undermine international and regional efforts aimed at establishing security and peace and resolving the crisis.” “Treacherous attacks constitute a direct threat to the security, stability and safety of citizens and residents on the lands of Bahrain and Kuwait, and a clear violation of the rules of international law and the charter of the United Nations,” a statement quoted him as saying. “The GCC affirmed its support for all measures taken by the Kingdom of Bahrain and the State of Kuwait to strengthen their security, safeguard their sovereignty, and preserve the integrity of their territories,” he added.
Iranian Supreme Leader Calls for Justice
In a message marking the country’s Judiciary Week, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said that the child killings and the war crimes in Minab and Lamerd must be pursued in domestic and international courts. The Iranian Supreme Leader said the country’s most pressing legal challenge is pursuing the rights violated by “international criminals and global aggressors,” Iran’s Press TV reports.
“The blood of those killed in the two wars of aggression against Iran – waged by the United States and Israel in June 2025 and February 2026 – together with the physical, psychological, material, and spiritual damage inflicted on Iran and its people inside and outside the country, forms the basis for hundreds or even thousands of significant legal cases,” the supreme leader was quoted as saying. “What is certain is that the criminals must be brought to justice and made to face the consequences of their criminal acts.”
In his Judiciary Week message, Mojtaba Khamenei said that “the confessions and even brazen boasting of some of the leaders of the US-Zionist enemy regarding these crimes are indisputably an admission of crime,” which “effectively pave the way for the vindication of the [Iranian] nation’s rights that have been violated.”
Iranian Army Boasts of New Hardware
Brigadier General Mohammad Akraminia, spokesperson for the Iranian Army, says that the country has managed to manufacture more advanced and sophisticated military hardware during the recent 40-day-long US-Israeli war of aggression, Iran’s Press TV reports. “We were able to bring them into service right in the midst of the war,” he said, adding, “Additionally, we optimized missiles utilized by the Armed Forces, both by the Army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and manufactured them with much higher quality. This shows that while we were using existing hardware, we did not overlook research and development.”
