Iran Seeks To Assert Authority in Persian Gulf After Strikes in Bahrain, Kuwait

Iran on Sunday launched fresh drone and missile attacks in Bahrain and Kuwait in a move that threatens a shaky truce with America agreed to earlier this month but frequently violated.The attacks, which Iran’s leadership says it made in response to American airstrikes on Islamic Republic targets, earned condemnation by several regional neighbors. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s condemnation and strongest denunciation of the sinful Iranian aggressions against the State of Kuwait and the Kingdom of Bahrain, as well as against the security and freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” the ministry said in a statement issued Sunday.Iran’s “escalatory acts constitute a flagrant violation of state sovereignty and a direct threat to the security and stability of the region,” said President Joseph Aoun of Lebanon. Though Lebanon is not an Iranian caliphate, the country, which is home to Iran-sponsored terrorist group, Hezbollah, has been a central aspect of Iran’s shifting goals in negotiations. On Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel announced an agreement with Lebanon — mediated by the U.S. — on a framework of understanding that allows Israeli forces to manage a security zone in southern Lebanon and establishes two areas where Lebanon and Israel will work together to eliminate Hezbollah terrorists.“Lebanon, Israel, and the US are essentially saying to Iran: This is none of your business. You have no status here. You have no involvement and no role, not you, not Hezbollah, and not any terrorist organization,” Mr. Netanyahu said. Late Sunday, Israeli officials issued a pre-attack warning, informing residents that earthquake detectors may be set off during a strike on a Hezbollah tunnel deep beneath the village of Majdal Zoun in southern Lebanon.Negotiations outlined in a memorandum of understanding signed following America and Israel’s February 28 offensive and the April 7 Iranian and U.S.-brokered ceasefire revolve around free passage through the Strait of Hormuz, unfreezing of Iran’s financial assets, and elimination of its nuclear program. President Trump has insisted on free navigation through the strait while Iran insists it must maintain control of the passage. The strait, which is the bottleneck for 20 percent of the world’s oil exports, sits within Iran and Oman’s territorial waters but the global community has long considered it an international passageway.America’s ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, told “Fox News Sunday” that the United States would target Iranian military infrastructure anytime shipping traffic in the strait is disrupted.“If the Iranian regime thinks for a second that President Trump is going to sit by, stand by, while Iran continues to attack international shipping without a response, or our bases without a response, they’re sadly mistaken,” Mr. Waltz said.During a visit to Baghdad Sunday, Iran’s top diplomat and foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, warned that attempts to bypass routes approved by Iran threaten the peace agreement.“Any attempt to adopt new or separate arrangements compared to what is underway by the Islamic Republic of Iran, will only lead to more complicated situations and delays in the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and will increase the tensions, as we witnessed in the past two nights,” Mr. Araghchi said at a press conference.Mr. Araghchi’s statement came after the American military announced strikes on multiple sites in Iran in response to another attack on a Panama-flagged tanker transporting two million barrels of crude oil through the strait on Saturday. In response, the United States carried out strikes on multiple military targets in Iran.Iran’s strikes on Bahrain and Kuwait are strategic. Already, the U.S. military has been weighing whether to reduce its footprint in those two nations after Iran targeted U.S. installations during the six-week conflict. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that some of the damaged facilities may not be rebuilt while American officials are also considering changing or reducing America’s presence in the two nations or moving some bases farther West out of Iran’s reach.The attack on Bahrain and Kuwait draws in neighbors that do not wish to see Iran exercise additional weight in the region despite recent overtures by the Islamic Republic. The foreign ministry of Qatar, which has been a chief mediator in the American and Iranian negotiations, stressed “the need to spare the region the consequences of unjustified attacks, to continue on the path of dialogue and diplomacy, to reduce escalation, and to build on the gains achieved within the framework” of the memorandum of understanding. Axios reported late Sunday that negotiators from Iran and the United States would meet at Doha on Tuesday to try to de-escalate tensions.Mr. Araghchi’s visit to Iraq, however, has drawn Iraqi support for a new regional security framework. Despite decades of hostilities between the neighbors, Iraq’s foreign minister, Fuad Hussein, said Sunday that Baghdad is prepared to host talks that would bring together Iraq, Iran, and the six Gulf Cooperation Council member states responsible for oil exports through the Persian Gulf.The Iranian official’s visit followed the arrest of dozens of Iraqi lawmakers and senior officials in a so-called anti-corruption sweep at Baghdad. Some prominent figures taken into custody included members of a pro-Iran, Shiite political bloc led by the former prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, the Associated Press reported. A former Department of Defense policy expert cautioned against speculation that the roundup was part of an American-backed coup to purge allies of Iran was “overhyped” and “sensational framing.”In other developments, the semi-official Fars news agency reported Sunday that Iran now has “no choice but to obtain the atomic bomb” to gain leverage in negotiations with Washington.Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, on Sunday, posted a series of statements on X that called for American and Israeli leaders to be tried for war crimes. He cited the killing of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as among “thousands of major legal cases” that should be pursued. “These criminals must be seized by the collar and brought to justice for their criminal deeds,” he stated. Ayatollah Khamenei has yet to appear in public since been named Iran’s supreme leader.Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, also reportedly announced that Iran will seek legal action against the United States in international courts, that hundreds of cases have already been opened, and Iran will seek to seize U.S. assets as part of any legal judgments in its favor.

Iran Seeks To Assert Authority in Persian Gulf After Strikes in Bahrain, Kuwait

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