What you need to know about the new strikes between the United States and Iran

The fragile ceasefire is “virtually meaningless”, Iranian diplomacy now asserts. The United States carried out new bombings against Iran at dawn on Thursday June 11, which announced responses against military bases in Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Washington launches new strikes

The bombings were triggered after Donald Trump accused Tehran of procrastinating in negotiations to end the war in the Middle East. According to the American army, the strikes targeted “Iranian military surveillance facilities, communications systems and air defense sites across the country.”

Explosions were heard early Thursday morning on the island of Qeshm, in Minab, Sirik and in the port of Bandar Abbas, in the south of the country, Iranian media reported. At least three people were injured in the Tehran region, the Fars agency announced, citing the local head of emergency services.

“We were really close to making a deal, but they keep leading us on, they don’t care about us”the American president had raged the day before in front of the press. His Defense Minister, Pete Hegseth, had criticized Iran for “play cat and mouse” in negotiations. “If we have to negotiate with bombs, we will negotiate with bombs, and we are very good at that”he threatened on Wednesday.

The United States and Iran had already attacked each other during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, despite a ceasefire that came into force on April 8 after more than five weeks of bombing.

Tehran responds with drones and missiles…

In retaliation for the new strikes, the Revolutionary Guards, Tehran’s ideological army, said they had launched drones on the military bases of Ali al-Salem and Ahmad al-Jaber, in Kuwait, and on the air base of Sheikh Isa, in Bahrain. Iranian media had previously announced an attack on the headquarters of the US 5th Fleet in Bahrain.

Air warning sirens were triggered in Bahrain, according to the Interior Ministry. A child was slightly injured and damage was reported in Manama, the kingdom’s capital. In Kuwait, the army announced “fight hostile aerial targets”and the civil aviation authority closed the emirate’s airspace, before reopening it on Thursday morning. The Revolutionary Guards also claimed to have fired twelve ballistic missiles against the Al-Azrak base in Jordan, used by the United States. The Jordanian army says it shot down 20 Iranian missiles heading towards this site, located about 80 km east of the capital, Amman.

… and announces the closure of the Strait of Hormuz

The Revolutionary Guards also announced that “The Strait of Hormuz will be closed until further notice”. “No ship should leave its anchorage in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of ​​Oman. Any approach to the Strait of Hormuz will be considered collaboration with the enemy”they warned.

The Iranian navy, cited by the media, immediately announced that “two ships trying to illegally cross the Strait of Hormuz had been hit”without further details. “You are making the sacred Strait of Hormuz dangerous?! We will make this region hell for you”threatened the commander of the Revolutionary Guards aviation, Sardar Mousavi.

Washington, which for its part imposes a blockade on Iranian ports, has denied any blockage of the strait. “Commercial ships continue to transit the Strait of Hormuz this evening”wrote on X the US military Command for the Middle East (Centcom). This worsening situation in the Gulf continues to fuel the rise in oil prices. Thursday morning, a barrel of Brent from the North Sea gained 1.7% to $94.68, and that of American WTI gained 2% to $91.84.

Tensions still high in Lebanon

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for his part, on Wednesday called on the Lebanese to join Israel’s fight against Hezbollah, affirming that their country had been “taken hostage” by the pro-Iranian group. After Israeli strikes on Beirut, Iran then Israel carried out reciprocal attacks on Sunday and Monday, for the first time since the fragile ceasefire between Tehran and Washington came into force on April 8.

Iran demands that Lebanon, where its ally Hezbollah and Israel have been clashing since March 2, be included in any agreement to end the war in the Middle East, triggered at the end of February by an Israeli-American attack against the Islamic Republic. More than 3,600 people have been killed in Lebanon in Israeli strikes since the start of the war.