Gulf hostilities flared anew on Wednesday, with the U.S. military saying Iranian missile attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait and other regional targets were either thwarted or failed as diplomacy between Washington and Tehran showed little progress.
Two Iranian missiles shot at Kuwait fell short or broke apart in flight, several ballistic missiles aimed at regional targets failed and three missiles heading for Bahrain were intercepted, U.S. Central Command said.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps attacked the U.S. Fifth Fleet headquarters and an airbase and helicopters in a regional country using missiles and drones, Iranian media reported on Wednesday, in response to what the IRGC described as a U.S. attack on an a communications tower south of Qeshm Island.
IRGC navy also targeted a vessel it identified as Panaya with missiles in response to what it said was a U.S. attack on an Iranian tanker near the Strait of Hormuz with a projectile that damaged the engine room, Iranian media reported.
“Disrupting the security of the Strait of Hormuz will carry a heavy price for the U.S. military,” local media cited the IRGC as saying.
Since the conflict began in late February, Iran has repeatedly attacked targets in Bahrain and Kuwait, where U.S. military bases are located.
Central Command said U.S. forces also downed Iranian drones targeting civilian shipping in regional waters and carried out strikes on Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz in response to the attempted attacks by Iran.
This was the latest of several such flare-ups. More than three months after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against Iran, the conflict is stuck in a stalemate, with a shaky ceasefire in place while the Strait of Hormuz remains largely shut to maritime traffic.
Iran and the United States said last week that they had reached a tentative initial agreement to halt the war. But the two sides have yet to sign off on the deal.
Iranian media reported that Tehran has not communicated with Washington for several days, but U.S. President Donald Trump said negotiations have not stopped.
“The conversations between us have been going on continuously, including four days ago, three days ago, two days ago, one day ago, and today,” he said in a social media post.
DISCUSSIONS ON NUCLEAR PROGRAM
Since mid-March, Trump has repeatedly said he is close to a deal that would end the fighting and allow negotiators to tackle thorny issues including the future of Iran’s nuclear program.
Trump has said stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons is his top priority. Iran denies it is developing a nuclear bomb and says its atomic program is for peaceful purposes.
Tehran is seeking access to billions of dollars in oil revenues, waivers on crude exports, a lifting of a U.S. blockade on its ports and continued leverage over the strait.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers on Tuesday that the U.S. would agree to sanctions relief only if Iran agrees to give up its nuclear activity.
Rubio declared, “The war is over,” during a sharp exchange with Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, who disagreed.
At sea, the world’s largest shipping group MSC said on Tuesday that one of its vessels was struck by two projectiles while in Iraq’s Umm Qasr port the previous day.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they carried out the attack in retaliation for a U.S. attack on an Iranian vessel in the Gulf of Oman.
The wide-reaching impact of the crisis was laid bare by U.N. children’s agency UNICEF, which said surging transport costs and supply chain disruptions were hindering life-saving aid for Gaza, Lebanon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria and elsewhere.
© Thomson Reuters 2026.
Hostilities flare again in Iran war; talks at a stalemate
