United States strikes on Iran, American base targeted in retaliation… Ceasefire weakened in the Middle East

Tension rises a notch between Washington and Tehran. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards announced on Thursday, May 28, that they had targeted an American base in Kuwait in retaliation for United States strikes on one of their ground bases in the south of the country.

Four Iranian attack drones which represented a “threat around the Strait of Hormuz” were shot down, a US official said on condition of anonymity, adding that the US military had also struck “a ground control station in Bandar Abbas that threatened to launch a fifth drone.” These new clashes, the most serious between the two countries since the start of the ceasefire in April, further jeopardize the negotiations to reach an agreement to end the war in the Middle East.

The American army on Thursday condemned the strikes attributed to Iran against Kuwait, denouncing “a blatant violation of the ceasefire.” The Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s ideological army, for their part, warned the United States against “firm response” in the event of a new attack, after American strikes on the south of the country. The Islamic Republic will take “all necessary measures to defend its national sovereignty”assured earlier in the day the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmaïl Baghaï, pointing out the “Threatening rhetoric from US officials”.

For the head of European diplomacy, Iran and the United States “are, at this very moment, in this very dangerous zone between war and peace”. On Wednesday, American President Donald Trump once again threatened a resumption of hostilities. Iran “really wants to make a deal. They’re not there yet. We’re not satisfied but we will be eventually (…). Or we’ll just have to finish the job.”a déclaré le président américain.

In addition to the end of the fighting and the end of the American blockade on Iranian ports, Tehran is seeking the release of 24 billion dollars (20.7 billion euros) of assets frozen abroad, “with provision of half as soon as the memorandum of understanding is announced”according to the Iranian agency ISNA. This is one of the main points of contention, alongside the nuclear aspect which Iran wishes to address in a second step. The United States is demanding the destruction of Iran’s stock of highly enriched uranium, the fate of which is uncertain. Tehran, for its part, denies that it wants to acquire an atomic bomb.