Iran attacks Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan after US hits Iranian nuclear site

Iran has fired drones and missiles at Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan, after an eighth consecutive night of attacks by the United States on Iranian cities, including on the partly built Darkhovin nuclear facility.

Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan reported multiple waves of Iranian strikes on Sunday, with Kuwaiti authorities saying one attack started a fire at a power and water plant.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it delivered “heavy blows” to US bases in Jordan and Kuwait, while the Iranian army said it targeted a US ammunition depot at Camp al-Adiri and air defence radars at the Ali Al Salem airbase, which hosts US personnel.

Kuwait’s military announced confronting Iranian attacks and reported damage to a second water and power plant, while sirens also sounded in Bahrain and Jordan. Bahrain later said it thwarted Iranian missile-and-drone attacks, and Jordan said it shot down three of four Iranian missiles.

The three countries, which host US military installations, have borne the brunt of Iran’s retaliatory attacks since hostilities resumed this month, all but shattering an interim ceasefire agreement signed between Tehran and Washington last month.

Darkhovin nuclear plant

The Iranian barrage followed a series of overnight US strikes on Iran that Washington said aimed to “punish” IRGC forces responsible for earlier attacks in Jordan that killed two US service members.

The US military said the strikes also sought to “degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz”.

The strikes hit areas in Iran’s Hormozgan and Khuzestan provinces, as well as Qeshm Island, according to Iranian media reports. They were less intense than the previous nights of US attacks, according to Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi in Tehran.

Iran’s nuclear energy agency later said the US strikes had hit the under-construction Darkhovin nuclear power plant in the country’s southwest, and condemned it as a breach of international law.

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, called the US attack on the Darkhovin plant in the southwestern Khuzestan province a “dangerous assault” on Iran’s civilian infrastructure and promised to respond to defend its national security.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it was looking into reports of the overnight attack, adding that the facility was still in the early stages of construction and contained no nuclear material when inspectors last visited.

Gulf states condemn Iran

Kuwait, meanwhile, accused Iran of targeting “civilian and vital facilities in the country”, saying Tehran had hit a power and desalination plant for the second time in as many days. It said the “heinous Iranian aggression” caused a fire in some facilities of the station.

The Iranian attacks on Kuwait as well as Bahrain and Jordan drew swift condemnation from across the Middle East.

In a phone call with Jordan’s deputy prime minister, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani expressed his country’s “strongest condemnation” of the Iranian attacks and urged Washington and Tehran to return to diplomacy and implement the interim ceasefire agreement signed on June 16.

The UAE condemned the attacks in “the strongest terms”, and reiterated its support for “all measures” aimed at safeguarding the security and safety of targeted countries.

Jordan summoned Iran’s ambassador following the attack on its territory, demanding that the “unjustified” attacks stop. Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign and Expatriate Affairs also pledged Amman’s solidarity with its Gulf neighbours and said it supports the measures they take to protect their sovereignty and security.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam spoke with his Kuwaiti and Jordanian counterparts and condemned the Iranian strikes, saying they “constitute a blatant violation of the security and territorial integrity of Kuwait and Jordan and a direct threat to the security of the Arab region”.

Strait of Hormuz

Separately, there were signs on Sunday of further turmoil in the Strait of Hormuz, where the IRGC said it blocked two ships that had tried to use an “unsafe route”. It said both had been involved in an unspecified “accident”.

The status of the strait has proven to be a major point of contention following the US-Iran memorandum of understanding signed last month, which extended the April ceasefire and agreed to the gradual reopening of the waterway. Iranian officials said Tehran has the right to continue managing shipping through the strait. The US says Iran does not control the waterway and has reimposed its own blockade of Iranian ports.

Paul Musgrave, professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar, said Iran has the “upper hand” in terms of commitment to the war, which it sees as existential.

“Since February, the asymmetry on how interests have been conducted has been clear: The regime in Tehran is fighting an existential war. The United States and Israel are fighting a war over policy choices,” Musgrave told Al Jazeera.