The United States and Iran escalated their military confrontation on Tuesday with fresh exchanges of missiles and drone strikes, undermining ongoing efforts to negotiate a ceasefire agreement between the two nations.
The conflict began when US forces fired a Hellfire missile at an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. American Central Command said the M/T Lexie, a Botswana-flagged vessel, was attempting to break through a US blockade while heading toward Iran's Kharg Island. The aircraft targeted the tanker's engine after the crew ignored repeated warnings over 24 hours. The strike marked the sixth vessel disabled since the American blockade commenced on April 13.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps responded by launching missiles and drones at the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, though the US military denied the attack succeeded. Kuwait's military reported that its air defenses intercepted incoming missiles and drones, while sirens sounded throughout Bahrain. According to Central Command, two Iranian missiles fired at Kuwait "fell short or broke apart" during transit, and three missiles targeting Bahrain were intercepted by US and Bahrain's defense systems. No American personnel were harmed.
The US military also reported defending against additional drone attacks targeting Kuwait and said it shot down three one-way attack drones launched toward civilian vessels transiting regional waters. American forces subsequently conducted strikes on an Iranian military ground control station located on Qeshm Island.
The military escalation reveals the lack of political progress in resolving the Middle East crisis. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that a deal with Tehran remained within reach, claiming the Iranian regime had agreed to negotiate nuclear program aspects it previously refused to discuss. However, his statements contradicted messaging from Iran, which indicated it would suspend peace talks with the US to protest Israel's ongoing military operations in Lebanon.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi declared that any ceasefire agreement must apply to all fronts, including Lebanon. "The ceasefire between Iran and the US is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon. Its violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts," he said.
The tensions extend beyond Iran and the US. Despite President Trump announcing Monday that a ceasefire had been agreed upon in Lebanon, with all sides consenting to halt fighting, Israeli warplanes continued strikes across southern Lebanon on Tuesday. Lebanon's National News Agency reported 30 Israeli strikes in the south, with rescuers recovering six bodies from a single family following one strike near Sidon.
The US military said it has redirected 122 vessels seeking to enter or exit Iranian ports since establishing the blockade, highlighting the economic and strategic stakes underlying the escalating confrontation.