US, Iran exchange renewed fire after reports of faltering peace talks

The US military said on Tuesday that Iran fired missiles at Kuwait and Bahrain that failed or were shot down, and that the US launched strikes on an Iranian facility in response.

Iran fired missiles toward Kuwait and Bahrain, but failed to hit their targets, the U.S. said. The two fired at Kuwait fell apart en route, while US and Bahraini forces intercepted the missiles aimed at Bahrain.

US Central Command said it responded with strikes on an Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted the headquarters of the US Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain and another country in its attack, without naming Kuwait. It said it launched its attack in response to the US firing a missile into the engine room of another oil tanker trying to reach Iran despite the US blockade.

"We had previously warned that in case of aggression, the response would be different and more severe, and we acted accordingly," the Guard said in its statement.

The Kuwait City skyline is pictured from across the waterfront along the Gulf in Salimiyah on Tuesday. AFP

Central Command also said it "downed multiple drones” launched by Iran targeting American forces in Kuwait.

The attacks happened after Iran stopped communicating with mediators about extending a ceasefire in the war with the U.S. and Israel, according to reports Tuesday from two semiofficial Iranian news agencies. President Donald Trump disputed the claim and said talks were continuing.

The reports by the Fars and Tasnim news agencies, both believed to be close to the Guard, came as tensions flared in Israel’s separate-but-related fight against the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah in Lebanon.

A regional official involved in the mediation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the talks, told The Associated Press that Iran had not communicated at all on Tuesday after saying that a ceasefire needed to be enforced in Lebanon for negotiations to continue.

Trump called reports of a cessation in talks "false and erroneous.”

"The conversations between us have been going on continuously, including four days ago, three days ago, two days ago, one day ago and today,” Trump said in a social media post. "Where they lead, one never knows, but as I told Iran, ‘It’s time, one way or another, for you to make a Deal."

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not address the reported cutoff in communications as he testified at a congressional hearing in Washington. Instead, he sounded an optimistic note about the nuclear dimension of the negotiations, while cautioning that there’s no guarantee of reaching "a deal that’s acceptable.”

Iran has been trying to increase pressure on Trump over negotiations on the Iran war ceasefire and loosening the Islamic Republic's chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz and the oil, gas and other commodities that normally pass through it. Trump then could potentially push Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt or slow the advance of his forces, which have moved deeper into Lebanon than at any time in over a quarter of a century.

Associated Press