RIYADH: Iran hit Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan with retaliatory strikes on Thursday as the United states launched new assault across multiple Iranian cities, after President Donald Trump earlier warned that Tehran would “pay the price” for stalled negotiations.
Kuwait said it was dealing with aerial threats and Bahrain activated air raid sirens early Thursday after a night of clashes between the US and Iran threatened to reignite the Middle East war.
The Kuwaiti army said, in a post on social media, that “air defense systems are currently intercepting hostile aerial targets.”
The Gulf nation also briefly shut its airspace and diverted flights due to the attacks.
“Air traffic in Kuwaiti airspace has returned to normal,” the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said in a statement.
Bahrain’s interior ministry said an 11-year-old girl was injured and several houses and homes were damaged Hamad City and the capital Manama due to shrapnel from intercepted Iranian drones.
Bahraini authorities earlier set off sirens and told the public to shelter in a safe place.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Thursday it had fired ballistic missiles at a US command center in Jordan, according to state media.
This “punitive operation against the aggressor” targeted “Al-Azraq Air Base and its control center, using 12 ballistic missiles,” the Guards said, as quoted by the Tasnim news agency, claiming to have destroyed these facilities “and a large number of fighter aircraft.”
It was the third time this week that back-and-forth strikes have tested a two-month shaky ceasefire. On Monday, Iran and Israel targeted each other. US hit Iranian sites on Wednesday in retaliation for the downing of an American helicopter. Tehran struck back and targeted US assets in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain.
US President Donald Trump vowed on Wednesday to hit Iran “very hard” if a peace deal was not agreed. Tehran said it had responded against US forces in the Strait of Hormuz, but the US military denied the claim.
Iran said that the strait was now closed and any vessel transiting the waterway would be attacked.
Negotiations to end the conflict continues with the help of mediators, but Trump’s repeated claims that a deal is imminent has yet to materialize.
Israel and the US launched the war against Iran on Feb. 28. and a deal to cease the fighting has largely held for two months.
– with AFP
