The U.S. military said that Kuwait had intercepted missiles launched by Iran late Wednesday night, calling the Iranian attack on one of the U.S. top allies in the Persian Gulf an “egregious ceasefire violation.”
Kuwait–which hosts a large U.S. base–had earlier announced an attack on its territory, and Iran announced it had retaliated after strikes earlier in the week on a U.S. base in a Gulf state it did not name.
CENTCOM said that, in addition to neutralizing the five drones, its forces prevented the launch of a sixth drone from an Iranian ground control site in Bandar Abbas. According to CENTCOM, “U.S. Central Command and regional partners remain vigilant and measured as we continue to defend our forces and interests from unjustified Iranian aggression.”
On Monday, the U.S. said it conducted what the Pentagon called “defensive” strikes on missile launch sites and minelaying boats in southern Iran. U.S. officials said late Wednesday in Washington that forces launched more strikes on Iran, shooting down four one-way attack drones that posed a threat around the strait and hitting an Iranian ground control station in Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a fifth drone.
Trump is looking for an agreement that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas once passed. He is also seeking to get Iran to give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, while the Islamic Republic wants economic sanctions to be lifted and frozen assets to be released to aid its shattered economy.
“Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said during a cabinet meeting held on Wednesday. “I'm doing that for the world. I'm not doing it just for us, and we've had great support from other nations, by the way. We don't need it at all, but we've had great support from other nations.”