People in Bahrain and Kuwait have woken up to the now familiar sound of warning sirens and explosions in the distance, as Iranian strikes again dash hopes of a return to normalcy, AFP reports.

“We want the situation to stabilise, we want our normal lives back. I run a business, and continued instability does me no good,” Adel Mohammed, a Bahraini man in his sixties, tells AFP. “The fact that Bahrain continues to be subjected to Iranian attacks makes me angry, it’s completely unacceptable.”

An AFP correspondent in Manama heard repeated explosions in the early hours of the morning, as air-raid sirens sounded three times.

Some residents are now worried about a return to hostilities in the Gulf after US President Donald Trump told reporters that the “ceasefire is over”, though he has left the door open to more talks.

“We do not want war to return to the region. We have already been through a harrowing time, and we do not want the crisis to start all over again,” says Sawsan Deif, a Saudi homemaker in her fifties living in Bahrain.

Further north in Kuwait, Ola Hashem had just flown in to visit her Jordanian relatives when she awoke to the sounds of sirens.

“This has made me feel anxious, I’m inclined to leave as soon as possible,” the 40-year-old tells AFP.