The United States bombed Iranian radar and drone control sites in Iran after Tehran shot down an American MQ-1 Predator drone this weekend, the American military said today. Iran acknowledged launching a retaliatory strike, while Kuwait said it was intercepting incoming drone and missile fire.<\/p>\n
The duelling attacks reflect the fragility of a weekslong ceasefire in the Iran war, which has seen repeated attacks even as American and Iranian officials try to negotiate a deal to extend it. Iran has maintained its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz in the meantime, disrupting global energy supplies as a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded once passed through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, fighting continues to escalate as Israel extends its occupation<\/a> of Lebanon beyond the Litani River and as the militant group Hezbollah continues to launch drones into Israel.<\/p>\n US military attacks Iran<\/p>\n The US military’s Central Command said it carried out the strikes in Iran on Saturday and Sunday around the city of Geruk and on Qeshm Island.<\/p>\n \u201cThe measured and deliberate strikes occurred … in response to aggressive Iranian actions that included the shootdown of a US MQ-1 drone that was operating over international waters,\u201d Central Command said.<\/p>\n \u201cUS fighter aircraft swiftly responded by eliminating Iranian air defenses, a ground control station, and two one-way attack drones that posed clear threats to ships transiting regional waters.\u201d<\/p>\n The Predator has been phased out of service by the US Air Force, which now flies the MQ-9 Reaper, though the US Army still flies the Predator. The US military said no American troops were hurt in the attacks.<\/p>\n Kuwait reports incoming fire<\/p>\n Kuwait meanwhile said its air defences had opened fire early Monday morning (local time) to intercept incoming drone and missile fire. Iran\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency that US forces had targeted a telecommunications tower.<\/p>\n The Guard said it responded with an attack without saying where, likely referring to the attack on Kuwait. The country is home to US Army Central, the Mideast forward command for the Army.<\/p>\n Iranian state television later shared footage of the ballistic missile launch, including a close-up showing a sticker on its body depicting a bruised US President Donald Trump overlaid on a \u201cclosed\u201d Strait of Hormuz with the caption: \u201cUntil the last American soldier leaves the region.\u201d<\/p>\n Attacks rattle ceasefire talks<\/p>\n The attacks represent the latest escalation between the US and Iran, even as both have insisted they are continuing to negotiate<\/a>, particularly over Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium. Over the weekend, the US fired a missile<\/a> into the engine room of a Gambia-flagged cargo ship trying to break its blockade of Iranian ports.<\/p>\n A trickle of ships have made it out of the strait, but pressure continues on global energy supplies, as well as chemical fertilizer which has led to fears of food shortages. The Gulf region produces 30% of globally traded chemical fertilizers.<\/p>\n Trump met with advisers on Friday (local time) but has yet to decide on whether to move ahead with a deal to extend the ceasefire and reopen the strait. Iran has said the deal had not been finalised.<\/p>\n Trump expressed optimism about the talks in a post on his Truth Social platform today in Washington, mocking critics without addressing the ongoing crossfire.<\/p>\n \u201cIran really wants to make a deal, and it will be a good one for the U.S.A. and those that are with us,\u201d he wrote. \u201cJust sit back and relax, it will all work out well in the end \u2014 It always does!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States bombed Iranian radar and drone control sites in Iran after Tehran shot down an American…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[65,42,5107,43,64,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-455352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-north-america","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}