Iran threatens US sites as ceasefire totters

Maritime Tensions

Regional tensions escalate as projectile hits cargo ship off Qatar while drones enter Kuwait airspace

AP

DUBAI 

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have threatened to target US sites in the Middle East if its tankers come under fire, Iranian media reported on Saturday, as Washington was left waiting for Tehran’s response to its latest negotiating position. 

“Any attack on Iranian tankers and commercial vessels will result in a heavy attack on one of the American centres in the region and enemy ships,” the force said, a day after US strikes on two Iranian tankers in the Gulf of Oman. 

The shaky ceasefire in the Iran war was tested again on Sunday when a cargo ship caught fire after being hit by an unknown projectile off the coast of Qatar, and the military in Kuwait reported an attack by drones, without specifying where they came from. 

The UAE blamed Iran for the latest attack. No casualties were reported, and no one immediately claimed responsibility. 

Iran and its armed allied groups possess a large fleet of drones and have used them to carry out hundreds of strikes since the war began. The events marked the latest threats to a month-old ceasefire, which the Trump administration says remains in effect. The pause in fighting has faced difficulties, with Iran restricting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway key to the global flow of oil, and the US imposing a blockade of Iranian ports. 

On Friday, the US struck two Iranian oil tankers after it said that the vessels were trying to breach its blockade of the ports of Iran. In Kuwait, Defence Ministry spokesman Brig Gen Saud Abdulaziz Al Otaibi said that hostile drones entered Kuwait's airspace early on Sunday, and that forces responded “in accordance with established procedures”.