U.S. Navy warships transit the Arabian Sea in close formation as CENTCOM forces continue to promote regional security and stability, June 30, 2026.<\/p>\n
Source: US Navy<\/p>\n
The U.S. military said early Saturday it ended a seventh straight night of strikes against Iran, as Kuwait and Bahrain reported attacks by Iranian projectiles and commercial shipping continued to face disruptions.<\/p>\n
The fragile truce signed by the U.S. and Iran last month showed further signs of unravelling as the\u00a0latest round of fighting<\/a> continued. The interim agreement was intended to reopen the\u00a0strategically vital<\/a>\u00a0Strait of Hormuz and end the conflict which began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.<\/p>\n U.S. Central Command said the attacks, which ended at 9:30pm U.S. Eastern Time on Friday, struck “military logistics infrastructure<\/a>, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities”.<\/p>\n “CENTCOM continues to hold Iran accountable at the Commander in Chief’s direction while fully enforcing a naval blockade against Iranian ports,” it said in a post on X.<\/p>\n The military also said its forces intercepted several shipping vessels in recent days. <\/p>\n “During the first three days of renewed implementation, U.S. forces have redirected 4 commercial vessels, disabled 1, and boarded 1 to ensure full compliance,” Central Command said in a separate statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it blocked four vessels early Saturday as they attempted to move under U.S. protection through the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n “In a coordinated missile and drone operation, all four were halted and immobilized at sea,” Iran’s IRNA News Agency quoted the IRGC Navy Command as saying in a post<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n Iran also appeared to continue its attacks on regional targets.<\/p>\n Kuwait said its air defenses were “responding to hostile drone threats”.<\/p>\n It also said an Iranian attack on its power and water distillation station<\/a> caused a fire but no casualties, according to an X post by the Kuwait News Agency. It was the second attack on Kuwait’s water facilities in two days.<\/p>\n Kuwait is\u00a0known<\/a>\u00a0to be overwhelmingly dependent on desalination for drinking water, with almost 90% of the arid nation’s water demand satisfied through seawater desalination plants.<\/p>\n Kuwait Airways said it rescheduled most of its flights<\/a>, blaming “hostile missile and drone attacks following the Iranian aggression”.<\/p>\n Neighboring Bahrain’s government said early Saturday that its air defense systems intercepted several Iranian projectiles and sounded sirens to warn residents.<\/p>\n On Friday, Iran claimed it had targeted U.S. military forces in Syria and Bahrain<\/a>.<\/p>\n ‘Winning big in Iran’<\/p>\n U.S. President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0has insisted the war with Iran is going well, saying Thursday in a primetime address to the American public: “We are likewise winning big in Iran, and you will see the fruits of that labor very, very shortly.”<\/p>\n The U.S. president had\u00a0threatened<\/a>\u00a0to strike Iran’s bridges and power plants next week if the country refused to return to the negotiating table.<\/p>\n Ian Lesser, distinguished fellow at GMF, a Washington-based think tank, said there appears to be a risk of the U.S. and Iran becoming mired in a so-called\u00a0forever war.<\/a><\/p>\n “There’s a risk of this, but of course we were in essentially a cold and occasionally hot war with Iran for decades,” Lesser told CNBC by video call.<\/p>\n “I think in some sense this is misjudgment by the current administration. But it is also part of a pattern in the American approach to the use of force, that we have enormous capability and enormous operational prowess and we are hobbled by strategic mistakes,” he added.<\/p>\n Oil prices were sharply higher on Friday due to the ongoing unrest in the Middle East.<\/p>\n International benchmark\u00a0Brent crude<\/a>\u00a0futures with September delivery advanced 4.6% to $88.10 a barrel on Friday, while U.S.\u00a0West Texas Intermediate<\/a>\u00a0futures with August delivery gained 4.5% to settle at $82.49. Both were at their highest since mid-June.<\/p>\n For the week, both benchmarks gained about 16%, with Brent \u200bon track for a third consecutive weekly gain and WTI set for its second.<\/p>\n \u2013 Reuters contributed to this report.<\/p>\n