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Hostilities flare in Iran war, oil jumps with talks at a stalemate

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Gulf hostilities flared again on Wednesday, with an Iranian missile attack damaging Kuwait’s airport and the U.S. military carrying out strikes near ​the Strait of Hormuz, as diplomacy between Washington and Tehran showed little progress.

The latest flare-up, which sent oil prices up more than 1%, comes with the conflict stalemated in a shaky ‌ceasefire and the Strait of Hormuz largely closed, more than three months after initial U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, Reuters reported.

Flights at Kuwait International Airport were suspended and diverted elsewhere until further notice, the state news agency said, citing aviation authorities, after an Iranian drone and missile attack on its T1 building.

The attack caused injuries and severely damaged some airport facilities, it added, but gave no further details. Kuwait Airways suspended operations after the attack, the airline said in a statement.

Bahrain’s army intercepted three missiles and several ​drones, it said in a statement.

Earlier, the U.S. Central Command said two Iranian missiles shot at Kuwait fell short or broke up in flight, while several ballistic missiles aimed at regional targets failed ​and three missiles heading for Bahrain were intercepted.

Since the conflict began, Iran has repeatedly attacked targets in the Gulf region home to U.S. military bases.

Central Command ⁠said the U.S. military also downed Iranian drones targeting civilian ships in regional waters and U.S. forces in Kuwait, and carried out strikes on Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz following attempted attacks by Iran.

Iran’s ​state media said the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) attacked the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, as well as an airbase and helicopters in an unspecified regional country.

It sent missiles and drones in response ​to what the IRGC described as a U.S. attack on a communications tower south of Qeshm.

Central Command said all the attacks failed, however, and U.S. forces stayed ready to repel “unwarranted Iranian aggression.”

Last week, Iran and the United States said they had reached a tentative initial agreement to halt the war, but they have yet to sign off on the deal.

Iranian media said Tehran has not communicated with Washington for several days, but U.S. President Donald Trump said negotiations had not stopped.

“The conversations between us ​have been going on continuously, including four days ago, three days ago, two days ago, one day ago, and today,” he said in a social media post.

DISCUSSIONS ON NUCLEAR PROGRAM

Since mid-March, Trump has repeatedly said he ​is close to a deal to end the fighting and allow negotiators to tackle thorny issues, including the future of Iran’s nuclear program.

Trump has said his top priority is to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran denies it is developing a ‌nuclear bomb and ⁠says its atomic program is for peaceful purposes.

Tehran is seeking access to billions of dollars in oil revenues, waivers on crude exports, a lifting of a U.S. blockade on its ports and continued leverage over the strait, traversed by a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas traffic before the war.

Iranian media said the IRGC’s navy targeted a vessel it identified as the Panaya with missiles in response to what it said was a U.S. attack on an Iranian tanker near Hormuz.

“Disrupting the security of the Strait of Hormuz will carry a heavy price for the U.S. military,” media cited the IRGC as saying.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio ​told lawmakers on Tuesday that the U.S. would agree ​to sanctions relief only if Iran agreed to ⁠give up its nuclear activity.

“The war is over,” Rubio declared during a sharp exchange with Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, who disagreed.

ISRAEL KEEPS UP STRIKES IN LEBANON

The war has killed thousands since it began on February 28, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, while also causing global economic pain by pushing up energy prices.

It ​also triggered the latest round of conflict between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, with Israel pursuing its deepest incursion into Lebanon in 25 years.

On Tuesday, Israel kept ​up strikes on a string ⁠of southern towns, Lebanese security sources said, despite a U.S.-mediated partial ceasefire unveiled on Monday.

The move failed to reassure many Lebanese, 1.2 million of whom have been displaced, and an Israeli drone over Beirut kept residents on edge on Tuesday.

“Every time we return to our homes, there is a warning for us to be displaced again,” said Faten Al Chehime, who fled to a displacement camp on Monday from her home in Beirut’s southern suburbs, just two weeks after ⁠she had returned.

On ​Tuesday, the world’s largest shipping group, MSC, said two projectiles struck one of its vessels while in Iraq’s Umm Qasr port the previous ​day.

The IRGC said it carried out the attack in retaliation for a U.S. attack on an Iranian vessel in the Gulf of Oman.

Children’s agency UNICEF flagged the widening humanitarian crisis as surging transport prices and supply chain disruptions hinder life-saving aid to countries from Gaza ​to Nigeria.

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Saudi Arabia says debris from intercepted missiles falls in Mecca region

The missiles were launched towards the region and intercepted and destroyed, ​Saudi Arabia’s civil defence said in a statement.

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Saudi Arabia said debris from two ballistic missiles ​intercepted by its air defences fell in the Mecca ‌region on Wednesday, as the kingdom and Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis continued to trade attacks in an escalating conflict.

Saudi state television identified the locations as Sabuhah village, ​about 35 km (22 miles) northeast of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, ​and Wadi al-Maghmas, about 21 km east of the ⁠mosque, Reuters reported.

The missiles were launched towards the region and intercepted and destroyed, ​Saudi Arabia’s civil defence said in a statement.

The Houthis have repeatedly denied ​Saudi accusations that they target Mecca and Medina, Islam’s two holiest cities, saying their military operations are directed at military and strategic targets elsewhere in Saudi Arabia.

Mecca, ​home to sites sacred to Muslims worldwide, is the focal ​point of the annual hajj pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam, which ‌millions ⁠of Muslims undertake each year.

“This hostile targeting of civilian objects constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and reflects the dangerous hostile approach pursued by the Houthi militia,” Saudi Arabia’s civil defence said ​early on Thursday.

The ​Houthis seized ⁠Yemen’s capital Sanaa in 2014, prompting Saudi Arabia to intervene militarily the following year in support of ​the internationally recognised government.

A UN-brokered truce in 2022 largely ​froze ⁠the conflict, but hostilities resumed earlier this year, with the Houthis launching missile and drone attacks on Saudi territory and Riyadh carrying out airstrikes ⁠in ​Yemen.

The latest escalation has threatened the strategic Bab ​el-Mandeb Strait, a key shipping route linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

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Iran defends two-day proposal for peace talks after US rejects conditions

Iran defended a proposal on Monday to restart peace talks in as ​few as two days as the ‌most reasonable offer on the table, after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called some of ​Iran’s conditions “outrageous and ridiculous”.

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Iran defended a proposal on Monday to restart peace talks in as ​few as two days as the ‌most reasonable offer on the table, after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called some of ​Iran’s conditions “outrageous and ridiculous”, Reuters reported.

“Is it unreasonable that ​Iran demands that US illegal sanctions ⁠and its naval blockade must be lifted ​before negotiations start and that the war should ​end on all fronts?” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told a weekly press conference in response to ​Rubio’s remarks.

Iran defended a proposal on Monday to restart peace talks in as ​few as two days as the ‌most reasonable offer on the table, after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called some of ​Iran’s conditions “outrageous and ridiculous”.

“Is it unreasonable that ​Iran demands that US illegal sanctions ⁠and its naval blockade must be lifted ​before negotiations start and that the war should ​end on all fronts?” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told a weekly press conference in response to ​Rubio’s remarks.

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Explosions heard in areas in southern Iran, Iranian media report

Earlier on Saturday, Tasnim news agency ‌said ⁠two missiles struck Qeshm Island with no official information on possible damage.

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Explosions were heard on Saturday evening in several areas in southern Iran, including on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state ​television reported.

Iran’s state TV suggested that the explosions might be linked to ‌Iranian military activities in the strategic waterway, which has become subject to repeated attacks on commercial shipping since the war erupted between the US and Iran in February.

It said Iranian officials have ​not confirmed any missile strikes on the areas, while the semi-official Tasnim news ​agency cited a source as saying that the explosions heard on Qeshm ⁠Island were not related to missile strikes.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy said early on ​Sunday that two oil tankers were on fire after hitting mines as they attempted to ​pass through an “unauthorized route” in the strait. It was not immediately clear if the incidents referred to by the IRGC were linked to the sound of explosions heard in southern Iranian areas.

Iran has hit ​vessels it says have violated its restrictions on passage through the waterway, as it ​seeks to assert control over the strait and exert pressure on Washington.

Earlier on Saturday, Tasnim news agency ‌said ⁠two missiles struck Qeshm Island with no official information on possible damage.

The reported explosions come days after the US carried out strikes on the island. A US official said those strikes were limited and not a resumption of major combat operations.

The US military said on ​Saturday evening that its ​forces disabled a commercial ⁠vessel that tried to get through the US blockade of Iran.

The US Central Command said one of its aircraft fired at ​the vessel’s stern and disabled the ship after it attempted to ​violate the ⁠blockade.

Countries in the region had been anticipating that US President Donald Trump, who has held off on strikes on Iran during the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s midterm elections, could ⁠restart ​attacks once the voting was over. Iran has repeatedly ​said it would respond to new attacks by striking at US and Israeli targets in neighboring countries.

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