Trump warns of fresh strikes on Iran as Strait of Hormuz tensions rise
US President Donald Trump warned of intensified strikes on Iran as tensions escalated in the Strait of Hormuz, where a tanker was hit and Kuwait reported drone attacks. Meanwhile, Israel launched heavy strikes on Gaza after Hamas announced plans to disarm under a US-brokered ceasefire.
Cairo: US President Donald Trump threatened more strikes on Iran as the United States presses for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Hours later on Saturday, Kuwait said it responded to a new round of drone attacks from Iran while a tanker was struck in the strategic waterway.
Meanwhile, Israel carried out heavy strikes on the Gaza Strip after the Palestinian militant group Hamas agreed to disarm.
US threatens new strikes in the conflict with Iran
Speaking to reporters Friday during a meeting with members of his Cabinet at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, Trump said “we just want to win” in Iran and signalled that he expected US military action to continue for some time.
He said the US will hit Iran “very hard” until they can’t take it anymore.
Later that day, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt expressed the US administration’s frustration anew, charging that Tehran last month signed a memorandum of understanding with the US on a truce but then quickly “broke it, shot at commercial ships, and killed American soldiers.”
“President Trump is not going to stand by and allow this terrorist behaviour to occur,” Leavitt said in a statement on Friday evening. “Iran will continue to pay until they come to the table in, what President Trump deems, a meaningful way.”
On Saturday, the US State Department issued new security alerts for Americans in 10 countries in the region to exercise heightened caution due to the escalating tensions with Iran.
The warnings — covering Bahrain, Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates — urged US citizens to prepare for the possibility of flight cancellations, temporary airspace closures and other travel disruptions.
New attacks on Kuwait and on shipping
Kuwait’s military said Saturday that its forces were responding to drone attacks, which were part of Iran’s assaults on the country.
In a statement, Maj. Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi, spokesperson for Kuwait’s Defence Ministry, said the drones hit “a number of vital facilities,” including a government structure in the country’s north. He said there were no casualties.
The British Navy said Saturday that a tanker was struck and a separate explosion hit close to a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Oman. No casualties were reported in either incident, it said. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organisation said an unknown projectile hit the vessel on Friday 11 nautical miles northeast of Lima, Oman. The attack damaged the vessel’s engine room.
The group said that on Saturday a large splash and an explosion were reported close to another tanker while it was sailing 21 nautical miles northwest of Khasab city.
Iran has repeatedly attacked vessels attempting to transit through the Strait of Hormuz without its authorisation as part of its ongoing conflict with the US.
Israel strikes Gaza after Hamas says it will disarm
Intense Israeli strikes Friday night and Saturday killed at least four people in central and northern Gaza and wounded dozens more, according to local health officials.
The strikes overnight in Gaza followed evacuation warnings by Israel’s military, which said on Saturday that it had struck Hamas targets across the territory and dismantled five Hamas storage facilities.
The strikes came after Hamas confirmed Friday that it will disarm in a potential breakthrough for ending the war in Gaza, though major obstacles remain.
Palestinians in Gaza — most of whom are displaced or live in camps — received the news with both hope and scepticism. A 24-year-old tuk-tuk driver, Abdel Moneim Aboul-Roos, who lost his leg in an Israeli strike, told The Associated Press that he doesn’t care about “talk about withdrawal and disarmament” as long as essentials like food and medicine remain lacking.
Israel has not officially commented on the Hamas deal, which is part of a US-brokered ceasefire announced last October.
That agreement called for Hamas to disarm and hand over power to an independent Palestinian administration. Israel was to withdraw and an International Stabilisation Force was to be deployed.
In a post on X Friday, Israeli far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir called the deal “unacceptable” and said the killings in Gaza must continue. “Israel must win,” he said.
Egypt, a key Gaza ceasefire mediator, lauded Hamas and other Palestinian groups for “their positive response” in the phased peace plan, Egyptian state-run media reported.
