WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump accused Iran on Saturday of violating a ceasefire agreement and warned that the United States could be forced to “militarily complete the job,” writing that “the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist” if fighting continues.
The warning followed fresh Iranian strikes on Bahrain and Kuwait that came hours after U.S. strikes on Iranian military targets, according to wire reports. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard claimed responsibility for the attacks on the two Gulf states, both of which host American forces.
Kuwait’s military said its air defenses intercepted Iranian drones and two ballistic missiles just after the U.S. strikes inside Iran, and reported no injuries or damage. Bahrain’s interior ministry said Iranian strikes damaged a residential building near the country’s international airport. The ministry released photographs showing the top floor of an eight-story building destroyed and windows blown out. No one was killed, officials said.
Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, but officials said the damaged building was not near the fleet’s headquarters. Bahrain’s foreign ministry denounced what it called “a dangerous escalation that reveals that what Tehran is doing is not a passing act, nor an isolated incident, but rather a deliberate approach and a systematic pattern of repeated aggression.”
Later on Sunday, Qatar said a civilian had been killed and another person hurt by shrapnel related to “military operations in the area” after a vessel did not return at its scheduled time on Saturday. The statement gave no further details.
The U.S. military said it had struck Iranian military “surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defence sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities” following an attack on a ship at sea on Saturday. The vessel was the Panamanian-flagged tanker Kiku, which was carrying crude oil for the state-run energy company of Qatar, according to wire reports.
The latest exchanges of fire began when an Iranian drone struck a merchant vessel off Oman on Thursday, and the U.S. military retaliated. Trump has accused Iran of violating the interim deal signed earlier this month that gave both sides 60 days to work out a lasting arrangement. Pakistan, a key mediator, said earlier that talks would resume on Tuesday, and the Trump administration said technical talks remained on track.
The agreement also faces pressure in Lebanon, where an Israeli soldier was killed by Hezbollah fire early on Sunday, according to wire reports.
