Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard conducted drone and missile attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait Sunday in response to U.S. airstrikes targeting the Islamic Republic. The Guard also threatened a "complete halt" to negotiations aimed at ending the war if Washington continues its military actions.
The escalation stems from efforts by a multinational maritime body, overseen by the U.S. Navy, to expand a shipping route near Oman in the Strait of Hormuz—the narrow entrance to the Persian Gulf that once transported one-fifth of global oil and natural gas—without Iran's direct control. This action created a new flashpoint with Tehran.
Iran maintains that it must exclusively govern the strait post-war, contradicting decades of international perception that the strait was open international waters despite its proximity to Iranian and Omani territorial zones. In recent days, Tehran has twice attacked vessels using the Oman route, an action supported by a United Nations agency.
Early Sunday, U.S. Central Command announced strikes against Iranian military assets, including "surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities," following an attack on a ship at sea early Saturday morning. The vessel targeted was the Panamanian-flagged tanker Kiku, which was carrying crude oil for Qatar's state-run energy company and served as a key negotiator between Iran and the United States.
In a social media post, Trump stated that the U.S. had "struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites, for violating the Cease Fire Agreement, AGAIN!" He warned of a threshold where the U.S. might cease being reasonable and would be compelled to "militarily complete the job."
Trump further wrote on Truth Social, “If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!”
This incident follows a similar exchange days earlier when an Iranian drone struck a merchant vessel off Oman's coast on Thursday, prompting retaliation from the U.S. military.
Ship-tracking data indicates the Kiku departed a Qatari oil field in the Persian Gulf earlier that week, heading toward a port in the United Arab Emirates located on the Gulf of Oman, across the Strait of Hormuz. It appeared to be utilizing the route established near Oman's coast as an alternative to the route sanctioned by Iran through its own waters.
The U.S. military asserted that "Iran had a chance to honor the ceasefire agreement" but "elected not to" when its forces engaged the Kiku.
Following the early Sunday U.S. strikes, Kuwait’s military reported intercepting incoming Iranian drones and missiles, though it provided no immediate damage assessment. Kuwait hosts a significant U.S. Army base.
Bahrain's Foreign Ministry released a statement condemning what it termed "a dangerous escalation that reveals that what Tehran is doing is not a passing act, nor an isolated incident, but rather a deliberate approach and a systematic pattern of repeated aggression against the sovereignty of the kingdom, and the security of its citizens and residents." Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, whose base there has faced repeated attacks during the conflict.
The Revolutionary Guard claimed responsibility for both attacks, stating they targeted Al Asad Air Base in Kuwait. The Guard added, “Let the enemy know that violating the ceasefire ... will lead to a complete halt of ongoing processes.”
The Guard, which manages Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal, reports directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei and is believed to exert increasing influence within the Islamic Republic.