THE MIND OF THE PEOPLE – The United States (US) and Iran have launched missile and drone attacks on each other recently. This further threatens diplomatic efforts and securing Washington and Tehran’s new ceasefire agreement.
Quoting The Guardian, US Central Command or Centcom stated that their troops fired Hellfire missiles to disable the engine of a Botswana-flagged tanker named M/T Lexie which was trying to penetrate its maritime blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.
Centcom said the ship was crossing international waters towards Iran’s Kharg Island, north of the strait near Kuwait, after its crew ignored repeated warnings for 24 hours.
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Lexie is the sixth ship the US military has disabled since the blockade of Iran began on April 13 2026. The US is claimed to have diverted 122 ships trying to enter or leave Iranian ports since then.
Not long ago, Kuwait announced that its air defense system intercepted missile and drone attacks, and asked the public ‘not to touch any debris, debris or unidentified objects that may result from the interception of enemy air targets’. Sirens also sounded in Bahrain.
Centcom said two Iranian missiles fired at Kuwait “fell short of target or were destroyed en route”, and three missiles targeting Bahrain were intercepted by US and Bahraini forces.
Uncle Sam’s country also stated that it thwarted a new wave of drones targeting their troops in Kuwait and that no personnel were injured. US forces then launched an attack on the Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or IRGC claimed to have attacked the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain with missiles and drones in response to the Qeshm attack, a claim Centcom denied.
Meanwhile, the IRGC declared the attack in retaliation against ‘bases responsible for attacks on Iran’.
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The latest exchange of fire came amid optimistic claims from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in his first appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee since the US and Israel launched war on Iran.
Rubio repeated claims that a deal with Tehran was within reach, and said Iran had agreed to negotiate aspects of its nuclear program that a month ago it had refused to discuss.
But Rubio’s statement was in direct conflict with signals from Iran indicating it would suspend peace talks with the US in protest at Israel’s attack on Lebanon.
On the other hand, Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, emphasized that the ceasefire between Iran and the US applies to everyone frontincluding Lebanon. “The violation is on one front, then there are violations on all front. “The US and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violations,” he said.***
