- Kuwait reports missile and drone attacks.
- Incident follows US strikes against Iran.
- Threatens fragile Middle East ceasefire negotiations.
A fresh fear of full-scale war erupted after Kuwait said it faced a missile and drone attack on Thursday. This came just after the US launched a fresh attack on Iran, shaking the fragile ceasefire. Kuwait's military made the announcement, without providing further details on what had been targeted.
Kuwait repeatedly came under fire from Iran and Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq during the war. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The attack comes after the US said it carried out strikes again targeting Iran during the ceasefire. Negotiations are ongoing over extending the ceasefire and trying to find a way to formally end the war that has shaken the Middle East.
IRGC says it targetted a US airbase
Iran's Revolutionary Guard said on Thursday it targeted a US airbase after the U.S. military carried out what a Washington official said were strikes targeting an Iranian drone operation near the Strait of Hormuz, hours after President Donald Trump rejected a report he was close to a compromise deal with Tehran.
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The escalation in hostilities highlighted threats to the tenuous ceasefire between the US and Iran that took effect in early April, dampening hopes for a peace deal and sending oil prices surging again.The US official, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about military operations, told Reuters the military shot down four Iranian attack drones and struck a ground control station in the port city of Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a fifth drone.
Defensive attack
"These actions were measured, purely defensive and intended to maintain the ceasefire," the official said.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it targeted a U.S. base in response to what it described as an early morning US attack near Bandar Abbas airport, Tasnim news agency reported.The IRGC said they targeted the US airbase from which the attack on the control station near Bandar Abbas was launched.
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Kuwait - which hosts a large US base - said it was responding to missile and drone attacks without saying where the attacks were coming from.Israel, which has been fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, also reported sounding sirens regarding hostile aircraft activity in northern Israel.
Oil Prices soar again
Oil prices, having fallen more than 5 per cent on Wednesday, rebounded after reports of the escalation in hostilities. U.S. crude futures gained more than 3 per cent, while stocks fell and the dollar rose.
(With inputs from agencies)