U.S. forces intercepted multiple Iranian ballistic missiles and drones on Tuesday and carried out strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island in response to attempted attacks by Tehran, U.S. Central Command said, as hostilities in the Gulf flared again amid stalled diplomatic efforts.
CENTCOM said Iran launched ballistic missiles toward regional neighbors, but that all failed to hit their targets. The command also said U.S. forces conducted strikes on Qeshm Island, near the Strait of Hormuz, after attempted Iranian attacks.
The renewed escalation came as Kuwait’s army said its air defenses were intercepting hostile missile and drone attacks. Bahrain said a warning siren had been sounded and urged residents to move to the nearest safe space.
Iran’s state news agency reported that explosions were heard near Qeshm Island, which sits close to the contested Strait of Hormuz. The United States also said it fired at a tanker headed toward Iran.
The latest flare-up comes more than three months after the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran. The conflict has since settled into a volatile stalemate, with a shaky ceasefire in place while the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed to maritime traffic.
Iran and the United States said last week that they had reached a tentative initial agreement to halt the war, but the two sides have yet to formally approve the deal.
Iranian media reported that Tehran had not communicated with Washington for several days, but U.S. President Donald Trump said talks were continuing.
“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 wrote on social media.
Since mid-March, Trump has repeatedly said he is close to a deal that would end the fighting and allow negotiators to address unresolved issues, including the future of Iran’s nuclear program. Trump has said preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons is his top priority. Iran denies seeking a nuclear bomb and says its atomic program is for peaceful purposes.
Tehran is seeking access to billions of dollars in oil revenues, waivers on crude exports, an end to a U.S. blockade on its ports and continued leverage over the strait.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers on Tuesday that Washington would agree to sanctions relief only if Iran agrees to give up its nuclear activity.
“The war is over,” Rubio said during a tense exchange with Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, who disagreed.
The war, which began on February 28, has killed thousands of people, mainly in Iran and Lebanon. It has also pushed up global energy prices after Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, which previously carried about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.
The crisis has also triggered the latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, with Israel carrying out its deepest incursion into Lebanon in 25 years.
On Tuesday, Israel continued strikes on several towns in southern Lebanon, Lebanese security sources said, despite a U.S.-mediated partial ceasefire announced on Monday.
The announcement failed to reassure many Lebanese, including some of the 1.2 million people displaced by the fighting. An Israeli drone over Beirut also kept residents on edge on Tuesday.
“Every time we return to our homes, there is a warning for us to be displaced again,” said Faten Al Chehime, who fled to a displacement camp from her home in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Monday, only two weeks after returning there.
At sea, MSC, the world’s largest shipping group, said on Tuesday that one of its vessels was struck by two projectiles while docked at Iraq’s Umm Qasr port the previous day.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they carried out the attack in retaliation for a U.S. strike on an Iranian vessel in the Gulf of Oman.
The wider impact of the crisis was also felt in humanitarian operations. UNICEF said surging transport costs and supply chain disruptions were hindering life-saving aid deliveries to Gaza, Lebanon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria and other countries.