War in the Middle East: exchange of fire between Washington and Tehran, Lebanon at the heart of tensions

The situation continues to deteriorate in the Middle East. This Wednesday, June 3, the United States announced that it had carried out retaliatory strikes after Iranian shots targeting Kuwait and Bahrain. According to the US Central Command, the missiles did not achieve their objectives: two of them disintegrated in flight over Kuwait, while the others were intercepted by the US and Bahraini defenses.

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In response, Washington struck an Iranian ground control station, located on the island of Qeshm, in the Strait of Hormuz.

For its part, the Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Iranian paramilitary force, claimed to have targeted the headquarters of the 5th Fleet of the US Navy in Bahrain, as well as another country during this attack, without mentioning Kuwait. Tehran explains that it launched this operation in retaliation for the firing, by the United States, of a missile into the engine room of another oil tanker, which was trying to reach Iran despite the blockade.

“We had previously warned that in the event of an attack, the response would be different and more severe, and we acted accordingly.”declared the Guardians in a press release.

Hours later, Iran launched a drone attack on Kuwait Airport, causing “serious material damage” and leaving 1 dead and dozens injured, indicated Staff Colonel Saoud Abdelaziz Al-Atwan, the spokesperson for the country’s Defense Ministry. According to the official KUNA news agency, the civil aviation authority suspended air traffic and diverted flights to other airports.

These attacks occurred after Iran stopped communicating with mediators responsible for negotiating the extension of a ceasefire in the war between the United States and Israel, according to reports published Tuesday by two semi-official Iranian news agencies.

These reports from the Fars and Tasnim agencies, both considered close to the Guardians, came as tensions intensified in the conflict in Lebanon, where Israel says it is waging a war against Hezbollah, a militia supported by Tehran.

A regional official involved in the mediation, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Iran had communicated absolutely nothing on Tuesday.

Trump says talks continue

However, Donald Trump disputed these claims and assured that discussions were continuing. The US president described this information as “false and erroneous”.

“Conversations between us continue without interruption, including four days ago, three days ago, two days ago, yesterday and today”he assured, on Truth Social. “Where they will lead, no one knows, but as I told Iran: It is time, one way or another, to make a deal.”

For his part, the American Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not mention the supposed breakdown of contacts when he testified during a hearing at Congress in Washington. He, on the other hand, adopted an optimistic tone regarding the nuclear dimension of the negotiations, while warning that there is no guarantee of achieving “an acceptable agreement”.

In recent weeks, Iran has been trying to increase pressure on Donald Trump over ceasefire negotiations and a possible easing of the country’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz and the flow of oil, gas and other goods that usually pass through it.

Donald Trump could then, potentially, push Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop or slow down the advance of his troops, who have penetrated deeper into Lebanon than at any time in more than a quarter of a century. The situation would have become tense between Donald Trump and his ally, Benjamin Netanyahu. During a recent telephone interview, the first allegedly insulted the second, according to several close sources, revealing tensions between the two countries.

The two conflicts are increasingly intertwined, with Iran demanding that any possible truce in this war also put an end to the fighting in Lebanon. But Israel and the United States say the fighting in Lebanon is separate from discussions over war with Iran.

This Tuesday morning, Israel published a new evacuation notice for residents of Lebanese villages and communes. “You must evacuate your homes immediately and move north of the Zahrani River”indicated the IDF spokesperson for Arab media.

The Lebanese National Information Agency (NNA) reported this Wednesday morning that four Syrians were killed by Israeli drones in southern Lebanon, near Al-Houch. An Israeli raid also killed two Palestinians.

Since the beginning of March, Israel has killed at least 3,468 people, according to a latest report. More than a million people have also been displaced by the conflict.