Iran and US step up attacks and threaten to escalate

Iran launched missiles and drones on US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain early on Sunday, shortly after President Donald Trump threatened to wipe out the Iranian leadership if they did not stick to the interim agreement to end their war.

Israel said on Sunday it had struck Iran-backed armed Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon on Saturday, just a day after it agreed the latest ceasefire deal with Lebanon to calm fighting that Iran says must end if the wider agreement is to stick.

The US military said earlier it had struck Iran again, hours after a tanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important energy shipping route, which Tehran has largely closed for most of the conflict.

"There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started," Trump said on social media.

"If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!" he added.

The 14-point interim peace accord was meant to halt the fighting, which the US and Israel started on February 28, and reopen the strait while talks proceeded on issues such as Iran's nuclear programme.

VIOLENCE, ACCUSATIONS FOLLOW PEACE DEAL

One round of mediated talks, led by Vice President JD Vance and Iran's parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, was held in Switzerland a week ago and Washington waived sanctions on Tehran, but fighting has since resumed and intensified.

About an hour after Trump's post, Kuwait's army said its air defences were responding to missile and drone attacks, while Bahrain said sirens had sounded there.

A US official, confirming the attacks on US facilities, told Reuters there were no reported US casualties or major damage to US sites in the Middle East but the situation was still unfolding.

Hours later, alarms sounded for a second time in Bahrain, where authorities said an Iranian attack damaged a residential building in Muharraq province, with no casualties reported. Bahrain urged the UN Security Council to hold an urgent session to hold Iran accountable.

The Kuwaiti army said it had intercepted two ballistic missiles with no damage or casualties.

FOCUS ON STRAIT, SHAKY CEASEFIRE IN LEBANON

US Central Command said earlier that its forces had carried out fresh strikes after a Panama-flagged tanker was attacked by an Iranian drone on Saturday.

"Iran was given a chance to honour the ceasefire agreement but elected not to," Central Command said in a statement.

US strikes were "in direct response to continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping" and targeted Iranian military surveillance, communications, air defence, drone storage and mine-laying facilities, it said.

Saturday's tanker attack in the strait followed one on a cargo ship on Thursday that triggered the latest escalation.

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 ships stranded in the strait, which carried one-fifth of global oil and LNG supplies before the conflict, including tankers laden with oil, began leaving over the past two weeks, sending oil prices back close to pre-war levels.

Even as attacks continued on Sunday morning, CMA CGM's Galapagos container ship exited the strait in what the shipping giant called "an important milestone in a regional context that remains complex and requires constant vigilance".

LEBANON STRIKES

In Lebanon, Israel said on Sunday it had killed Hezbollah fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades and struck a rocket launcher in the Nabatieh area.

There was no immediate response from Hezbollah.

Israel, which is not a party to the US-Iran deal, and Lebanon have repeatedly agreed to US-brokered ceasefires, the latest on Friday.

But these have had only limited effect, with Israel insisting it will not withdraw from Lebanese territory it has seized and Hezbollah repeatedly rejecting calls to give up its arms as long as Israeli troops remain in place.