Iran launched missile and drone strikes targeting U.S. military installations in Kuwait and Bahrain on Sunday, hours after the United States conducted airstrikes on Iranian military infrastructure along the Strait of Hormuz. The exchange marked the third consecutive day of reciprocal attacks, deepening a crisis that threatens to unravel the interim ceasefire signed on 17 June.

The U.S. Central Command stated that its overnight strikes struck surveillance, communications, and air-defence sites, as well as drone storage and mine-laying facilities, in response to an Iranian drone attack on the Panamanian-flagged tanker M/T Kiku. President Trump, in a post on Truth Social, warned that Iran had “violated the ceasefire again” and that Washington might be forced “to militarily complete the job”, adding that “the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist”. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility for the attacks on Ali al-Salem air base in Kuwait and the U.S. Fifth Fleet base in Bahrain, describing them as retaliation. Iranian officials, including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, accused the U.S. of violating the ceasefire first and warned that continued military operations would bring a “complete halt” to peace negotiations.

The immediate consequence is a severe strain on the 60-day memorandum of understanding, which temporarily reopened the Strait of Hormuz and established a framework for talks on Iran’s nuclear programme, sanctions relief, and maritime transit. According to diplomats in the Gulf, the dispute centres on control of shipping routes: Iran insists on supervising all traffic through the waterway, while a U.S.-backed multinational maritime body has expanded an alternative route along Oman’s coast, which Tehran rejects. The IRGC has now warned that vessels using unauthorised routes face “firmer treatment”, raising the spectre of disruption to oil shipments that account for a substantial share of global energy supplies. The renewed hostilities also risk dragging in regional actors: Israeli forces carried out strikes in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah targets, a front linked to the broader U.S.-Iran confrontation, even as a separate ceasefire agreement was being implemented there.

Diplomats in Europe and the Middle East express concern that the weekend’s violence may derail the negotiating process. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, a second round of talks on the most contentious issues, scheduled for this weekend in Switzerland, has been postponed. Bahrain has requested an urgent session of the United Nations Security Council to hold Iran accountable for the attacks on its territory. While both Washington and Tehran have reaffirmed their commitment to the diplomatic track in past statements, the on-the-ground military actions and rhetorical brinkmanship suggest that the provisional agreement now faces its most serious test since it was signed.