Mideast Live Updates: Dispute Over Strait Deepens as U.S. and Iran Trade Attacks

 

Mideast Live Updates: Dispute Over Strait Deepens as U.S. and Iran Trade Attacks

 

In a fourth day of hostilities, Iran said that it had targeted a U.S. naval base in Bahrain and a Kuwaiti air base with drones and missiles. No major damage or casualties were reported.

 

Updated

June 28, 2026, 3:30 p.m. ET57 minutes ago

Aaron BoxermanEuan WardJohn Ismay and Tyler Pager

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/06/28/world/us-iran-strikes-hormuz

 

Here’s the latest.

Two weeks into a cease-fire agreement aimed at leading to a broader peace agreement, Iran and the United States once again engaged in hostilities on Sunday, with the Iranian foreign minister declaring that his country alone had the authority to manage commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

 

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said that it had targeted a U.S. naval base in Bahrain and the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait with drones and missiles in retaliation for American attacks. No damage was reported to U.S. facilities, but the skirmishing that after an attack on a cargo ship in the strait last week has eroded the hopes for a return to normalcy that were prompted by the truce.

 

U.S. officials blamed Iran for the resumption of hostilities, saying it had launched drone attacks on two vessels in the Strait of Hormuz in recent days. Iran has not claimed responsibility for those attacks, but reiterated on Sunday its demand that vessels follow its designated routes in the strait.

 

“Under the memorandum of understanding, no other entity or country has any responsibility in this regard,” Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said during a visit to Iraq on Sunday. Any other arrangement, he said, would add to tensions and could delay the full reopening of the waterway.

 

A senior U.S. official said technical talks with Iran to discuss how to execute the memorandum of understanding were still planned for the coming days. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss continuing negotiations, said no talks have been canceled and that both sides were exchanging messages via so-called deconfliction channels.

 

Another U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly said the Iranian drones and missiles in the latest attack had been shot down, intercepted or failed to reach their intended targets. The governments of Kuwait and Bahrain said the attacks had not caused any casualties.

 

The U.S. military had hit Iranian air-defense sites and other military infrastructure on Saturday in “direct response” to an attack earlier in the day on an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. An earlier wave of U.S. strikes were prompted by the initial attack on a container ship in the waters off the coast of Oman on Thursday, U.S. officials said.

 

Here’s what else we’re covering:

 

Lebanon fighting: The Israeli military said on Sunday it had killed a Hezbollah militant it blamed for the death of an Israeli soldier in southern Lebanon. Israel and Lebanon agreed on Friday to a U.S.-backed deal that would lead to the gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon. But Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, rejected that pact, and fighting has continued. More than 4,200 people have been killed and more than 12,000 injured since fighting between Israel and Hezbollah reignited early in March, Lebanon’s health ministry said on Sunday.

 

Trading accusations: The U.S. and Iran have accused each other of violating the cease-fire, but analysts say neither appears eager for a return to full-blown war. The Revolutionary Guards said in a statement on Sunday that American bases in the region “will be experiencing hell during these days.” On Saturday, President Trump said in a bellicose social media message that the United States would annihilate Iran if it were forced to return to war. Read more on the cease-fire ›

 

Strait of Hormuz: Strikes on ships are likely to deter vessels from passing through the waterway, which Iran had agreed to fully reopen as part of the cease-fire deal.