Mutual attacks between the United States and Iran threaten ceasefire negotiations

BarcelonaThe US and Iran have exchanged new missile and drone attacks, further jeopardizing Donald Trump's attempt to achieve a new ceasefire agreement with Tehran to save face. US forces launched a Hellfire missile early this morning against a tanker attempting to break the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, and subsequently stated that they had repelled Iranian retaliatory attacks in the region and had attacked targets on the Iranian island of Qeshm. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard stated that it had attacked the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain with missiles and drones in response to the attack on Qeshm, which the US Army's Central Command (Centcom) denies.

The latest exchange of fire began when Centcom announced it had attacked the M/T Lexie, a Botswana-flagged tanker, as it was sailing in international waters towards the Iranian island of Kharg, north of the strait and near Kuwait, after the crew had ignored repeated warnings for a 24-hour period. Shortly after, the Kuwaiti army said its air defenses were intercepting missile and drone attacks, and urged the population to “not approach or touch any debris, shrapnel, or unidentified objects that may result from the interception of hostile aerial targets”. Sirens also sounded in Bahrain.

Iranian Retaliation

Centcom has assured that two Iranian missiles fired at Kuwait "fell before reaching their target or disintegrated during their journey", and that three missiles directed at Bahrain have been intercepted. It later added that it had defended US forces in Kuwait from a new wave of drones that caused no injuries. The Pentagon also said that three unidirectional attack drones "launched by Iran against civilian sailors legitimately transiting through regional waters" had been shot down, but provided no further details.

The latest exchange of attacks underscores the lack of political progress in resolving the crisis in the region, despite the expectations of an agreement that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio proclaimed on Tuesday, in his first appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee since the US and Israel began the war.Rubio assured that the regime had agreed to negotiate aspects of its nuclear program on which it had refused to speak even a month ago. In contrast, Iran has threatened to walk away from the table if Israel does not stop attacking Lebanon, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the offensive on the south of the country to continue.