www.bbc.co.uk
The US military said it carried out the seventh consecutive night of strikes on Iran since President Donald Trump declared their temporary ceasefire agreement “over”.
US Central Command (Centcom) said its forces “hit surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities”.
Iran said it responded by targeting US allies in the region including Kuwait, which said a power plant, water distillation plant and an oil facility had been hit.
It marked a full week of renewed hostilities which also saw the US reimpose a blockade of Iranian ports and Tehran declare the Strait of Hormuz shut, as their preliminary deal to end the war faltered within a month of its signing.
They agreed to stop fighting in mid-June to enable talks for a permanent peace, but negotiations appeared to make little headway and Trump declared the deal over on 8 July.
Late on Saturday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a written statement that America’s “repeated breaches” of the agreement had “laid bare a fundamental truth: the signature of the US president is utterly worthless and devoid of credibility”.
Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since the attack which killed his father at the start of the war, said the “dark episode of criminality and broken promises” was evidence of American “dishonesty” and its “malicious nature”.
It came after Kuwait’s state news agency said an oil facility had suffered significant damage and reported injuries resulting from “repeated Iranian attacks”.
Jordan’s military also said it had intercepted 10 Iranian missiles fired into its airspace overnight, without reporting any damage, while Bahrain said its air defences had “thwarted” Iranian attacks.
The secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council said the attacks on Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain were “a grave violation of international law” and accused Tehran of deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure in action constituting “war crimes”.
Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, who leads the council representing six states – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman – said the “dangerous escalation” required international accountability.
It came as Iran’s Deputy Foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi told state media that Tehran had been “engaged in negotiations” but had suspended its obligations under the deal after the US “carried out these aggressive actions”.
The ceasefire was largely observed, despite Iranian attacks on oil tankers to force them to comply with its demands that ships seek authorisation to cross the Strait of Hormuz – through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas ordinarily transits – followed by US strikes.
