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02-07-2026
WASHINGTON/ TEHRAN: A new round of escalating strikes between Iran and the US has continued, 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”.
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!”
Earlier on Sunday, 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 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 but late on Sunday a US official said both sides had agreed to halt recent hostilities and renew talks on the Strait of Hormuz. “Technical talks are slated to continue on all areas of the MOU. Both sides will stand down for now and vessels can move freely,” the official said, referring to the 14-point memorandum of understanding that was agreed earlier this month and under which the strait would be re-opened for traffic.
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 chance 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.
The US military accused Iran of violating the ceasefire on Saturday by attacking the Panama-flagged tanker Kiku, which carried crude oil for the state-run energy company of Qatar. According to ship-tracking websites, the Kiku appeared to be attempting to use the southern corridor near the coast of Oman.
A Singapore-flagged container ship was struck by an Iranian drone while transiting the same route last week.
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.” (Int’l News Desk)
