War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has condemned Iran’s attacks on Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar, Al Jazeera reports.

“We reiterate our full solidarity with our brothers in these countries, and our unwavering support for them,” he has said in a statement carried by the National News Agency.

Saudi Arabia is the latest Middle Eastern nation to condemn the Iranian attacks throughout the region, Al Jazeera reports.

The Foreign Ministry has denounced Iran’s “violation of the principles of international law, the Charter of the United Nations, the Charter of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and the rules of good neighbourliness, through repeated Iranian attacks on commercial vessels that threaten the security and freedom of navigation”.

The United Arab Emirates says “monitoring and tracking systems are operating with high efficiency around the clock at the highest levels of readiness” after Iran launched strikes throughout the Middle East, Al Jazeera reports.

The Defence Ministry said on X “missile threats detected this morning were outside the country’s borders”.

The Omani government has condemned an attack on its territory, according to state media, with Iran’s Guards saying they targeted it during a barrage aimed at countries across the Gulf, AFP reports.

The Oman News Agency has said on X that “the Sultanate of Oman affirms its condemnation and denunciation of this attack”, which came just hours after the country hosted Iran’s foreign minister to address security issues in the Strait of Hormuz.

A communications tower in southern Iran has been targeted in the latest wave of US attacks, Al Jazeera reports.

The tower was located in the southern highlands of the Kerman province, Iranian news website Entekhab has reported, citing local officials.

Local official Rahman Jalali was quoted as saying two people were injured in the attack and transported to a hospital by helicopter.

Iran’s Brigadier General Mohammad Akraminia has told state television that Washington was trying to impose an unauthorised shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, contrary to the Islamabad MoU that assigns control of transit arrangements to Iran, Mehr News Agency reports.

“We are standing behind this with full authority and will firmly defend the rights of the Iranian people as stipulated in the agreement.”

Akraminia has said the army never trusted the Americans and had used the ceasefire to boost readiness and combat capability.

He has said the US should consider its regional allies and not expose them to further insecurity, warning that “whenever they have taken action against Iran, they have received their response, and the same happened last night”.

Kuwait has denounced “heinous Iranian attacks” that targeted the Gulf country, Al Jazeera reports.

“The continuation of these attacks constitutes a highly dangerous escalation that will exacerbate tension and instability in the region, threaten regional peace and security, and undermine diplomatic efforts aimed at de-escalation and resolving crises by peaceful means,” the Foreign Ministry has said in a statement.

Kuwait “reserves all its rights to take whatever measures are necessary to protect its security and preserve its sovereignty in accordance with the provisions of international law and the United Nations Charter”, it has added.

Talks between Iran and Oman that took place in Muscat on Saturday were about arrangements for managing shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman says, as reported by Al Jazeera.

Esmaeil Baqaei has said in a statement quoted by Iranian state media that the talks were attended by legal and technical delegations from the two countries.

The statement adds that the governments exchanged views on ensuring security and safety in the Strait of Hormuz in compliance with the sovereign rights of the two countries and in line with international law and the MoU between the US and Iran.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran emphasises that the future arrangements for managing traffic in the Strait of Hormuz should be made in consultation between the two coastal countries and considering the developments of the past few months, especially the imposed war between the US and the Zionist regime and its security consequences for shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” the statement says.

A delegation from Qatar was present during Saturday’s discussions between Iran and Oman on the Strait of Hormuz in Muscat, according to Tehran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Al Jazeera reports.

Qatar joined the talks “as one of the countries in the region that has also acted as a mediator in the US-Iran negotiations in recent months”, Baghaei has said in remarks quoted by Iranian media.

He said earlier that the talks between Tehran and Muscat covered arrangements for managing traffic and shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman for Iran’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee in Parliament, says in a post on X: “We have taken control of the Strait of Hormuz with power, and we will preserve it with power as well.”

Iranian security officials have told the IRIB news agency US forces attacked a military installation on the outskirts of Yasuj, in southwestern Kohgiluyeh Boyer-Ahmad province, Al Jazeera reports.

Jordan’s army has said that three Iranian missiles fell on the kingdom’s territory at dawn amid renewed hostilities between Iran and the United States, reports AFP.

“Three missiles fired from Iranian territory fell at dawn in several locations across the kingdom, without causing any casualties. The damage is limited to minor material losses,” said a military source quoted in an army statement.

India says that 11 of its nationals were on a vessel that was struck in waters east of Oman, as Iran and United States traded fresh fire, reports AFP.

“Of the 11 Indian nationals on board, 10 have been rescued so far, while one Indian national is reportedly missing,” New Delhi’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has said it struck and disabled a second vessel in the Strait of Hormuz and targeted the US strategic air base at Al Udeid in Qatar with ballistic missiles, destroying its fighter jet maintenance centre and command and control facility, reports Reuters.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has said that its aerospace forces carried out a heavy attack on US aircraft carrier support and refueling platforms in the port of Duqm, in Oman, in the third stage of its response to what it called US military “aggression”.

The IRGC added that the operation targeted logistical support centres for US naval vessels.

The US Central Command has said it has completed a third round of strikes this week against Iran.

“US forces hit approximately 140 Iranian military targets with precision munitions launched by land- and sea-based fighter aircraft, drones, and naval vessels. Targets included Iranian missile and drone sites, naval capabilities, ammunition storage facilities, communication networks, and coastal surveillance locations,” it said in a statement.

The Centcom said during three nights of strikes this week, it struck “more than 300 targets at the direction of the Commander in Chief to degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial vessels freely transiting the strait”.

It claimed that commercial vessel transits through the Strait of Hormuz continue, and since early May, US forces have “helped facilitate the successful transit of more than 800 commercial vessels and 400 million barrels of crude oil”.

Khuzestan’s deputy governor for security and law enforcement, Valiollah Hayati, has said that enemy projectiles have struck Hendijan, Manshahr and Abadan, IRNA news agency reports.

Explosions have been heard over Qatar’s capital, AFP journalists report, after the United States struck Iran over a vessel coming under attack in the Strait of Hormuz.

AFP correspondents saw interceptions in the sky above Doha, a key mediator between Washington and Tehran, as residents received messages on their phones urging them to “remain in their homes and safe places”.