US and Iran launch fresh strikes amid stalled ceasefire talks

Screenshot from US Central Command of a Hellfire missile fired at a tanker attempting to break through the American blockade of the strait of Hormuz amid crisis in Iran. Photograph: U.S. Central Command View image in fullscreen Screenshot from US Central Command of a Hellfire missile fired at a tanker attempting to break through the American blockade of the strait of Hormuz amid crisis in Iran. Photograph: U.S. Central Command US and Iran launch fresh strikes amid stalled ceasefire talks US military says it struck tanker and sites on Iran’s Qeshm Island and defended Kuwait and Bahrain from missile attacks The US and Iran have exchanged fresh missiles and drone strikes, further jeopardising efforts by Washington to secure a new ceasefire agreement with Tehran. US forces fired a Hellfire missile to disable a tanker attempting to break through the American blockade of the strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, and later said they repelled Iranian reprisal attacks in the region and attacked sites on Iran’s Qeshm Island. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said it attacked the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain with missiles and drones in response to the strike on Qeshm, a claim the US military’s Central Command (Centcom) denied. Could Trump’s Iran ‘excursion’ be a bigger global turning point than Vietnam? Read more The latest exchange of fire began when Centcom said it targeted an unladen tanker – Botswana-flagged M/T Lexie – on Tuesday. Centcom said aircraft fired a missile to disable the tankers engine, as it passed through international waters toward Iran’s Kharg Island, north of the strait near Kuwait , after the crew ignored repeated warnings over a 24-hour period. Soon after, Kuwait’s military later said its air defences were intercepting missile and drone attacks and urged the public “not to approach or touch any debris, shrapnel, or unidentified objects that may result from intercepting hostile aerial targets”. Sirens also sounded in Bahrain. Centcom said two Iranian missiles fired at Kuwait “fell short or broke apart enroute”, and that three missiles targeting Bahrain were intercepted by US and Bahrain. US forces also said they shot down three one-way attack drones “launched by Iran toward civilian mariners that were rightfully transiting regional waters” but gave no further details. American forces also conducted strikes on an Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island. The latest exchange of strikes underline the lack of political progress in resolving the Middle East crisis, despite upbeat claims by US secretary of state Marco Rubio in his first appearance before the Senate foreign relations committee since the US and Israel launched their war on Iran. Rubio reiterated claims on Tuesday that a deal with Tehran was within reach, and claimed the regime had agreed to negotiate aspects of its nuclear program that it had refused to discuss even a month ago. His comments come in direct contrast to the messaging from Iran, wh