Iran said on Sunday it was determined to defend its sovereignty after the latest US strikes on the country, as a fragile truce in the Middle East war hung in the balance.
“Iran strongly condemns the airstrikes by the terrorist US army on several monitoring and surveillance facilities on the southern coast of the country in the early hours of Sunday,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that it “stresses its determination to defend Iran’s national sovereignty” against US attacks.
Iran and the United States have accused each other of violating their truce, straining negotiations meant to end the Middle East war.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Baghdad on Sunday morning for an official visit during which he is expected to meet with Iraqi officials, according to Iraqi state media.
The visit comes amid escalating tensions in the Gulf, with renewed exchanges of fire between the United States and Iran on Saturday and Sunday.
Iran announced earlier that it had launched strikes against the US Fifth Fleet base in Bahrain and another base in Kuwait, in retaliation for US strikes on its territory.
Bahrain’s air defenses intercepted Iranian missiles and drones on Sunday, its military said, after the US carried out new strikes against Iran.
The Bahraini military said it had “intercepted and destroyed a number of projectiles used in these treacherous Iranian attacks”, adding that it was on “maximum alert”.
Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry denounced a new Iranian attack on its territory, after Tehran said it had launched strikes against US bases in the Gulf in retaliation for American attacks.
The ministry said in a statement that it “expresses its condemnation and denunciation of… in the strongest terms, the recurrence of Iran’s heinous aggression against the State of Kuwait, the latest of which was at dawn today, in a flagrant violation of its sovereignty”.
In Lebanon, the Lebanese state news agency reported a new Israeli attack on southern Lebanon on Sunday, two days after the countries signed an agreement to pave the way to peace talks, which a Hezbollah MP said “will not be implemented” and warned of “internal conflict”. (AFP)
