{"id":486152,"date":"2026-06-06T12:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T12:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/486152\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T12:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T12:52:09","slug":"kuwait-and-bahrain-targeted-by-iran-after-exchange-of-fire-with-us-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/486152\/","title":{"rendered":"Kuwait and Bahrain targeted by Iran after exchange of fire with US \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bahrain<\/a> has said Iran<\/a> fired ballistic missiles and drones at it and Kuwait<\/a>, hours after the US and Iran exchanged strikes over the Gulf, the latest in a series of flare-ups that threatened to break the fragile ceasefire.<\/p>\n

Air raid sirens rang out on Saturday in Bahrain and people were told to move to a safe location and await further instructions. Kuwait\u2019s military said it was intercepting drones and missiles launched at the country.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards said it was targeting the Ali al-Salem airbase in Bahrain, where the US navy\u2019s fifth fleet is located, according to Iranian media.<\/p>\n

The attacks came after the US<\/a> military said it had shot down four Iranian drones launched toward the strait of Hormuz and struck Iranian coastal surveillance radar sites in response. Iran followed hours later, saying it had targeted US bases in the region, with Kuwait and Bahrain both issuing air raid alerts.<\/p>\n

It was the latest in a series of back-and-forth attacks that have strained the tenuous ceasefire in the war and harmed efforts to reach a deal to extend the truce. US-Iran efforts to find a permanent end to the war have dragged on, extending regional stability and throwing the global economy into disarray.<\/p>\n

The World Food Programme (WFP) said millions of people were being pushed into hunger due to the knock-on effects of the Iran war, primarily due to soaring energy and food prices.<\/p>\n

In analysis published on Thursday, the WFP found that 2.5 million people in Somalia, 2.3 million in Afghanistan and 1.3 million in Sri Lanka were struggling to meet basic food needs due to rising food prices.<\/p>\n

The WFP predicted that 45 million people could be pushed into food insecurity by June, saying the affects of the Iran war would intensify in the coming months, even if the conflict ended.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Iran reaffirms support for Hizbullah with wider peace deal in doubtOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

US central command (Centcom) said early on Saturday that Iranian attack drones \u201cposed an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic\u201d, while the strikes on radar installations were to \u201cdefend against further attacks\u201d. The US military is enforcing a blockade on Iranian ports in response to Tehran\u2019s chokehold on the strait \u2013 a crucial corridor for global oil and natural gas shipments \u2013 which has sent energy prices spiking.<\/p>\n

Hours later Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted \u201cenemy bases\u201d in the Gulf after the US strikes on Sirik and Qeshm Island.<\/p>\n

Kuwait\u2019s military said it was responding to \u201chostile\u201d missile and drone attacks, days after a strike on its international airport killed one and wounded dozens.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran fired seven ballistic missiles toward Kuwait and Bahrain,\u201d Centcom said, adding that six were intercepted and a seventh did not reach its target. \u201cThere are currently no reports of harm to US personnel, and Iranian claims of damaging US 5th fleet headquarters in Bahrain are false.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier on Friday, Donald Trump told reporters that \u201cthe situation with Iran seems to be going quite well\u201d.<\/p>\n

At an event with farmers in Wisconsin, Trump said: \u201cWe\u2019re going to come out of Iran very quickly and it\u2019s going to be very strong one way or the other, whether it\u2019s a piece of paper or the very tough way. Your fertiliser prices are going to go way down, just like they were four months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"USUS president Donald Trump is under pressure to find a way out of the war, which has delivered a shock to markets. Photograph: Haiyun Jiang\/The New York Times <\/p>\n

Trump is under pressure to find a way out of the war, which has shocked markets and proven unpopular at home as midterm elections loom. US and Iranian negotiators have for weeks been working to extend the ceasefire by 60 days and start a new round of talks on Iran\u2019s nuclear programme. But both sides have continued to call for changes in the deal, with neither appearing ready to compromise.<\/p>\n

Asked on Friday why it was taking so long, Trump told NBC it was because it was \u201ca very hard thing\u201d for Iran, citing its \u201cgreat independence\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Iran insists any US-Israel ceasefire must cover conflict in LebanonOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are things they never thought they\u2019d be doing that they\u2019re going to have to do. They\u2019ve got no choice, and it takes a little while,\u201d he said in the interview.<\/p>\n

In other comments on Friday, Trump said Iran still had more than 20 per cent of its missiles left, a figure for the stockpile that was higher than that of 18 per cent which Trump gave last month. He has often claimed to have completely destroyed Iran\u2019s ability to wage war.<\/p>\n

Trump told NBC News: \u201cThey still have capacity. They have some missiles, they have some drones. I would say, percentage wise, maybe 21, 22 per cent of their missiles.\u201d<\/p>\n

His administration has also touted the latest ceasefire agreed to this week by the Lebanese government and Israel after US-brokered talks in Washington. That\u2019s despite Iranian-backed Hezbollah \u2013 who were not party to the talks \u2013 rejecting the agreement and new attacks being launched by both sides.<\/p>\n

\"AnAn Israeli drone attack targeted the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh on June 5th, 2026. Photograph: Abbas Fakih\/AFP\/Getty <\/p>\n

The Israeli military on Friday struck multiple parts of southern Lebanon and issued evacuation warnings to a number of villages, including one that has sheltered thousands of people displaced by the fighting.<\/p>\n

The fighting in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have seized large swaths of the south, also threatens efforts to end the Iran war and reopen the strait of Hormuz. Iran has demanded that any lasting truce extend to Lebanon. – The Guardian, with the Associated Press and AFP<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Inside southern Lebanon\u2019s temporary graveyards: \u2018People are dying day by day. No one is batting an eye\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bahrain has said Iran fired ballistic missiles and drones at it and Kuwait, hours after the US and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[10748,969,42,11829,43,150177,40,38,41,39,90],"class_list":["post-486152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-binyamin-netanyahu","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-iran","tag-news","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}