Escalating US-Iran strikes threaten interim peace agreement

Boats anchored off Oman's northern Musandam peninsula near the strait of Hormuz. Iran launched attacks on US sites in the Gulf in response to American strikes on Tehran. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Boats anchored off Oman's northern Musandam peninsula near the strait of Hormuz. Iran launched attacks on US sites in the Gulf in response to American strikes on Tehran. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images Escalating US-Iran strikes threaten interim peace agreement Tehran attacks Bahrain and Kuwait amid efforts to open strait of Hormuz without Iran’s direct oversight Middle East crisis live – latest updates A new round of escalating strikes between Iran and the US has continued, further undermining the fragile interim peace agreement between the two countries, and prompting Donald Trump to threaten violence that would ensure Iran “will no longer exist”. On Sunday, Tehran launched drone and missile attacks against Bahrain and Kuwait after new US strikes on sites in southern Iran and threatened a “complete halt” to negotiations to end the war. Trump said that a moment might come soon when he abandoned talks and the US would “militarily finish the job”. The US president posted on social media: “If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!” Kuwait, which hosts a major US army base, said it had intercepted two ballistic missiles and there were no reports of injuries or damage; while Bahrain’s interior ministry said the Iranian strikes had damaged a residential building near the international airport and no one was killed. The latest violence has been triggered by efforts to reopen the strait of Hormuz to all shipping without Iran’s direct oversight. The strategically critical waterway, which carried a fifth of the world’s oil and liquid gas supplies before the war, has long been considered an international passageway. US Central Command said in a statement that its strikes were “in direct response to continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping” and targeted Iranian military surveillance, communications, air defence, drone storage and mine-laying facilities. Washington has been promoting a southern lane along the coast of Oman; while Tehran, which ultimately aims to charge fees for use of the strait, wants ships to ‌use a northern route through its waters and under its control. Hundreds of vessels, including tankers laden with oil, have been blockaded inside the Gulf by the closure of the strait since war broke out. Some have chanced the passage through the past two weeks, leading oil prices to drop to close to prewar levels and bringing relief to economies around the world. The US military accused Iran of violating the ceasefire on Saturday by attacking the Panama-flagged tanker Kiku, which carried crude oil for the state-run energy company of Qatar. According to ship-tracking websites, the Kiku appeared to be attempting to use the southern corridor near the coast of Oman. A Singapore-flagged container