The U.S. military said on Tuesday (June 2, 2026) that it had “successfully defeated” a series of Iranian missile and drone attacks in the Gulf and conducted self-defence strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island.

U.S. Central Command also denied claims by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards that they had struck the headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and a separate air base in the region.

“Iran launched several ballistic missiles toward regional neighbors; however, all failed to hit their intended targets,” CENTCOM said in a statement.

“Two Iranian missiles fired at Kuwait fell short or broke apart en route, and three missiles launched at Bahrain were immediately intercepted by US and Bahrain air defense forces.”

Kuwait’s military said its air defences were intercepting “hostile” missile and drone attacks.

The U.S. military also shot down three attack drones that had been launched by Iran “toward civilian mariners that were rightfully transiting regional waters,” CENTCOM said.

Qeshm Island is located in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the key shipping channel for Gulf oil and gas that has been effectively closed by Tehran since the start of the war with the U.S. and Israel in late February.

CENTCOM said the strikes had targeted an “Iranian military ground control station” on the island, adding that no U.S. personnel were injured.

In a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency, the Revolutionary Guards claimed they had struck the U.S. military installations in response to the strike on Qeshm Island.

“FALSE,” CENTCOM said in a post on X. “All Iranian attacks on American forces failed.”

A ceasefire has been in place between the United States and Iran since April 8, but subsequent talks to try to put a more permanent end to the conflict have so far been unsuccessful.

Tehran said on Monday (June 1, 2026) that Israel’s expanding campaign in Lebanon risked ending the U.S.-Iran ceasefire.

Washington has now forcibly halted six ships it said were attempting to violate the blockade, which has been in place since April 13.

Kuwait military responds to attacks

Kuwait’s military said on Wednesday (June 3, 2026) its air defences were intercepting “hostile” missile and drone attacks.

The oil-rich Gulf nation, a U.S. ally, has been on the receiving end of Iranian attacks since the United States and Israel attacked Iran and killed its senior leadership in late February.

“Any sounds of explosions heard are the result of air defense systems intercepting these hostile attacks,” the military said on X, without specifying their origin.

Kuwait’s state-run news agency KUNA reported that sirens were heard for the second time that night.

On Monday (June 1, 2026), Kuwait said it downed a volley of missiles and drones, and later its foreign ministry held Iran “fully responsible for these heinous attacks”.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday (May 21, 2026) renewed criticism of NATO for not supporting the U.S. war on Iran, as he headed to alliance talks in Sweden.

“There are many countries in NATO that agree with us that Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon, that Iran is a threat to the world,” Mr. Rubio told reporters in Miami before leaving for the talks among NATO Foreign Ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden.

President Donald Trump “said, fine, I’m going to do something about it,” Mr. Rubio said.

“He’s not asking them to commit troops. He’s not asking them to send their fighter jets in. But they refuse to do anything,” he said.

“We were very upset about that.”

The United States and Israel jointly attacked Iran on February 28. Mr. Trump did not consult NATO ahead of time, and key European allies have voiced scepticism over the need for war, with U.S. and Israeli claims of an imminent Iranian nuclear threat highly disputed and Tehran’s retaliation sending global oil prices soaring.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez denounced the war as illegal and refused to let U.S. jets use bases in his country.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Iran was “humiliating” the United States in negotiations, infuriating Mr. Trump whose administration quickly announced that the United States was pulling 5,000 troops from bases in Germany.

“I’ve been a strong supporter of NATO my entire career,” said Mr. Rubio, a former senator.

But he continued: “I know why NATO is good for Europe, but why is NATO good for America? Because it gives us bases in the region that allow us to project power during a contingency in the Middle East or somewhere else.”

“So when that is the key rationale for why you’re in NATO, and then you have countries like Spain denying us the use of these bases, well then, why are you in NATO? That’s a very fair question,” he said.

He added that other countries were more helpful, previously singling out Portugal for praise.

Iran warned on Wednesday (May 20, 2026) that war in West Asia would spread far beyond the region if the United States and Israel resumed their attacks after President Donald Trump threatened to strike again unless a deal is reached.

Also read: Israel-Iran war highlights on May 20, 2026

A ceasefire on April 8 brought a halt to the conflict, which has roiled the global economy, but with Washington and Tehran seemingly reluctant to resume the fighting a war of words has taken its place.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened Tehran with renewed military action, while Iranian officials have hit back with their own warnings of devastating action.

Nevertheless, despite sporadic outbursts of violence, the two countries have continued to take part in diplomatic exchanges, mediated by Pakistan, aimed at bringing a formal end to the war.

On Tuesday (May 19, 2026), U.S. Vice-President J.D. Vance told reporters that “a lot of good progress is being made” and “we’re just going to keep working at it”, even as he told Iran the U.S. military was “locked and loaded”.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards issued their own threat on Wednesday, saying, “if the aggression against Iran is repeated, the promised regional war will this time spread far beyond the region, and our devastating blows will crush you”.

“The American-Zionist enemy… must know that despite the offensive carried out against us using the full capabilities of the world’s two most expensive armies, we have not deployed the full power of the Islamic revolution,” the Guards said in a statement on their Sepah News website.

Citing Iranian diplomatic sources, official news agency IRNA meanwhile announced a visit to Tehran by Pakistan’s Interior Minister, his second in less than a week.

Under pressure

On Tuesday (May 19, 2026), Mr. Trump insisted the U.S. retained the upper hand and that Iran was desperate for peace.

“You know how it is to negotiate with a country where you’re beating them badly. They come to the table; they’re begging to make a deal,” he said.

“I hope we don’t have to do the war, but we may have to give them another big hit. I’m not sure yet.”

He has previously made similar claims without a deal being concluded.

The U.S. leader is himself under pressure, with rising energy costs beginning to bite at home.

While the ceasefire brought a halt to the fighting, it has not reopened the vital Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas usually pass.

The future of the waterway is a key sticking point in negotiations, but without a deal, fears are growing for the global economy as pre-war stockpiles of oil are used up.

Rising fuel prices have caused widespread pain, with protests erupting in Kenya, which like many African countries is dependent on imports from the Gulf and where the public transport system has ground to a halt.

“It’s unfortunate that we lost four Kenyans in today’s violence, which also saw more than 30 people injured,” Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen told reporters.

Iran sent its response to the latest U.S. ceasefire proposal via Pakistani mediators and wants negotiations to focus on permanently ending the war, but President Donald Trump quickly rejected it as “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” with no details.

Iran seeks to end the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, and to ensure the security of shipping, state TV said.

Washington’s latest proposal addressed a deal to end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and roll back Iran’s nuclear program.

Mr. Trump earlier on social media accused Tehran of “playing games” with the United States for nearly 50 years, adding: “They will be laughing no longer!”

Mr. Trump is giving diplomacy “every chance we possibly can before going back to hostilities”, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, told ABC earlier.

Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen or heard publicly since the war began, “issued new and decisive directives for the continuation of operations and the powerful confrontation with the enemies” while meeting with the head of the joint military command, the state broadcaster reported, with no details.

Drone attacks target Gulf Arab nations

The fragile ceasefire was tested when a drone ignited a small fire on a ship off Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait reported drones entering their airspace. The UAE said it shot down two drones and blamed Iran. No casualties were reported, and no one immediately claimed responsibility.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry called the ship attack a “dangerous and unacceptable escalation that threatens the security and safety of maritime trade routes and vital supplies in the region.” The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre gave no details about the ship’s owner or origin.

Kuwait Defence Ministry spokesperson Brig. Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al Otaibi said forces responded to drones but did not say where they came from.

Iran and armed allied groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon have used drones to carry out hundreds of strikes since the war began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on February 28.

Iran says it’s on full readiness’ to protect nuclear sites

Mr. Trump has reiterated threats to resume full-scale bombing if Iran does not accept an agreement to reopen the strait and roll back its nuclear program. Iran has largely blocked the strategic waterway that’s key to the global flow of oil, natural gas and fertilizer since the war began, rattling world markets.

The U.S. military in turn has blockaded Iranian ports since April 13, saying it has turned back 61 commercial vessels and disabled four. On Friday, it struck two Iranian oil tankers it said were trying to breach the blockade.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard navy says any attack on Iranian oil tankers or commercial vessels would be met with a “heavy assault” on U.S. bases in the region and enemy ships.

Another sticking point in negotiations is Iran’s highly enriched uranium. The UN nuclear agency says Iran has more than 440 kilograms (970 pounds) enriched up to 60 per cent purity, a short, technical step from weapons grade.

In an interview posted late on Saturday (May 9, 2026), an Iranian military spokesperson said forces were on “full readiness” to protect sites where uranium is stored.

“We considered it possible that they might intend to steal it through infiltration operations or heli-borne operations,” Brig. Gen. Akrami Nia told the IRNA news agency.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an excerpt of an interview with CBS airing Sunday (May 10, 2026), said the war isn’t over because the enriched uranium needs to be taken out of Iran. “Trump has said to me, I want to go in there,’ and I think it can be done physically,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday (May 9, 2026) that Moscow’s proposal to take enriched uranium from Iran to help negotiate a settlement remains on the table.

The majority of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is likely at its Isfahan nuclear complex, the International Atomic Energy Agency director-general told The Associated Press last month. The facility was hit by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes in the 12-day war last year and faced less intense attacks this year.

Pope Leo XIV blasted the “handful of tyrants” who are ravaging Earth with war and exploitation as he preached a message of peace on Thursday (April 16, 2026) in the epicentre of a separatist conflict considered one of the world’s most neglected crises.

Pope Leo travelled to the western Cameroon city of Bamenda, where jubilant crowds clogged the roads, blowing horns and dancing. They were overjoyed that a Pope had come so far to see them and put a global spotlight on the violence that has traumatised this region for nearly a decade.

A Pakistani military contingent comprising around 13,000 soldiers and 10 to 18 jets has reached Saudi Arabia as part of a joint strategic defence agreement signed last year, the Gulf Kingdom announced on Saturday (April 11, 2026).

The military contingent’s deployment to King Abdulaziz Air Base in the Eastern Sector includes fighter jets and support aircraft from the Pakistan Air Force, according to a statement from Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defence.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Monday (April 6, 2026) that the Strait of Hormuz, a critical international waterway connecting the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman, has undergone “irreversible strategic changes” and will never return to its previous status.

Iran-Israel war updates on April 6, 2026

“The era of foreign hegemony over this critical waterway is definitely over,” the IRGC Navy said in a statement. Recent regional developments have established a new reality so that the U.S. can no longer dictate terms in Iran’s immediate maritime environment, it said.

“The Strait of Hormuz will never return to its previous status, especially for the U.S. and the Zionist regime,” the IRGC said, adding that Iran would continue to defend its sovereignty and the security of the Persian Gulf.

The IRGC statement came hours after U.S. President Donald Trump put out an expletive-ridden post on social media asking Iran to open the Strait. “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. Open the F*** Strait, you crazy b****, or you’ll be living in Hell,” the U.S. President said. Mr. Trump in the past had issued several deadlines to Iran to reopen the Strait or face severe bombing.

On Sunday (April 5, 2026), Mr. Trump said the U.S. was in talks with Iran and a deal could be possible by April 6, threatening to “blow up everything” if a deal is not reached.

The IRGC said the Guards have made plans to establish a new indigenous security architecture in the Persian Gulf based on the principle that the region’s security and stability must be guaranteed by the littoral states.

“These preparations include enhanced naval deployment, advanced monitoring systems, and coordinated rapid-response capabilities, all designed to safeguard Iran’s territorial waters and ensure the uninterrupted flow of energy through the strait,” the Guards said.