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<\/p>\nFILE – Toronto Sceptres goaltender Raygan Kirk saves a shot from Montreal Victoire’s Kristen O’Neill during the first period of a PWHL hockey game in Toronto, Dec. 21, 2024. (Chris Young\/The Canadian Press via AP, File)<\/p>\n
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CAIRO (AP) \u2014 Iran fired ballistic missiles and drones toward Bahrain and Kuwait that were intercepted early Saturday, Bahrain\u2019s government said, and called on Tehran to halt attacks on Gulf neighbors that test a fragile ceasefire in the Middle East conflict.<\/p>\n
Iran said that it targeted American military assets in both countries, after the U.S. attacked surveillance facilities on Qeshm Island and near Sirik that Iran said were used to protect borders and \u201censure the security of navigation in international waters.” Tehran called the attack a ceasefire violation.<\/p>\n
The latest exchange of fire came as the Trump administration presses Iran to make a deal to end the war, which has strained the global economy and threatened a hunger crisis in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries.<\/p>\n
Pakistan\u2019s interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, arrived in Iran on Saturday as part of mediation efforts.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the U.S. is seeking to ratchet up economic pressure on Iran. The U.S. Treasury Department is considering allowing Gulf allies to tap into frozen Iranian assets to pay for damages they sustained in the war, according to a person familiar with Secretary Scott Bessent’s thinking who spoke Saturday on condition of anonymity to share internal deliberations.<\/p>\n
The U.S. military said it shot down several Iranian missiles and drones launched toward the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf Arab allies, and struck some of the Islamic Republic\u2019s coastal surveillance radar sites in response.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe attack drones posed an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic,\u201d U.S. Central Command said.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted the Ali Al Salem air base, which hosts U.S. forces in Kuwait, and the U.S. Navy\u2019s 5th Fleet in Bahrain, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.<\/p>\n
The U.S. military said there were no reports of harm to U.S. personnel.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the week, Iranian drones heavily damaged a passenger terminal at Kuwait\u2019s main airport, killing one person and wounding dozens.<\/p>\n
The U.S. military kept up its blockade on Iranian ports in response to Tehran\u2019s grip on the strait, a crucial corridor for global oil and natural gas shipments. Energy prices have spiked, posing political problems for U.S. President Donald Trump’s Republican Party before the midterm congressional election.<\/p>\n
Trump increasingly appears to be boxed in. U.S. and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative agreement a week ago to extend the ceasefire by 60 days and start a new round of talks on Iran\u2019s nuclear program. Trump, however, has called for unspecified changes, and Iranian officials have shown no public sign of agreeing to the deal.<\/p>\n
The fighting in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have seized large swaths of the south while saying it targets the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, also challenges efforts to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has demanded that any lasting truce extends to Lebanon.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration has touted the latest ceasefire agreed to earlier in the week by the Lebanese government and Israel after U.S.-brokered talks in Washington. However, Hezbollah has rejected the agreement.<\/p>\n
Miad Maleki, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former Iranian sanctions expert at the Treasury Department, said it’s significant that the U.S. is signaling it could allow Gulf countries to access some of the $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets stored abroad. <\/p>\n
Iran had been seeking some of the funds as part of a deal, and rather than offering Tehran that concession, the U.S. is pressuring them to move quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the U.S. government is saying: \u2019Hey, not just that we\u2019re not going to give you these funds. As a matter of fact, we\u2019re going to take these funds from you, and we\u2019re going to help Gulf states to take it,\u201d Maleki said.<\/p>\n
Allowing Gulf states to use the frozen assets would also bolster U.S. ties there, he said. It would send a clear signal that America is sticking with its partners as they’ve sustained attacks and repercussions from the war. <\/p>\n
However, Maleki said some Gulf states may be reluctant to use the funds out of concern that they could face retaliation from Iran for doing so.<\/p>\n
Michelle L. Price reported from Bridgewater, New Jersey. Munir Ahmed contributed to this report from Islamabad.<\/p>\n
A woman reacts to the camera as she walks past an anti-U.S. graffiti painted on the wall of the British Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 6, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n
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