The United States and Iran appear to be making little progress toward an interim deal to end the war that Washington and Israel began 100 days ago, as fresh attacks pile pressure on a fragile ceasefire.
Renewed Hostilities
The past week saw the worst flare-up in tensions since the truce started around April 8. Negotiations between Washington and Tehran are bogged down over the fate of billions of dollars of frozen Iranian assets and a parallel conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
U.S. Central Command said early Sunday it downed two Iranian attack drones that threatened international maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway crucial to global energy exports that has also been at the heart of discussions.
On Friday, six ballistic missiles fired at Bahrain and Kuwait were intercepted and another failed to reach its intended target, hours after four unmanned craft headed to Hormuz were shot down, Centcom said. The U.S. struck Iranian coastal surveillance radar sites in Goruk and on Qeshm Island, it added.
Regional Impact
Since the U.S. and Israel began hitting Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran and its proxies have launched missile and drone attacks on oil infrastructure, industrial sites and U.S. military facilities across the Gulf. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain have all sustained damage.
In Washington, President Donald Trump's administration is floating a plan to steer Iranian assets frozen in the U.S. toward helping those Gulf allies rebuild from damage inflicted by the Islamic Republic.
Tehran, meanwhile, insists those assets be released. The dispute risks derailing the discussions on a truce extension, reopening the Strait of Hormuz and future talks over Iran's nuclear program.
Mediation Efforts
Iran's neighbour, Pakistan, has played a key mediating role. The Islamic Republic's foreign ministry said on Sunday that Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met Iran's top envoy Abbas Araghchi in Tehran and passed along a letter from his premier to Iran's supreme leader. There were no further details.
Trump, who has insisted for months Iran was near its breaking point, conceded Friday the country retains some missile and drone capacity. In an interview with NBC News, he said about 21 per cent to 22 per cent of Tehran's missile arsenal remains.
"It's a lot of missiles, but it's not what it was when we first attacked," he told the television network during a visit to Wisconsin.
Earlier Friday, he told reporters the U.S. is "having great success with Iran," and "they're in no position to have a nuclear weapon."
The ceasefire saw its biggest test on Wednesday, when Iranian strikes killed one person at Kuwait's main airport and injured dozens. Bahrain was also attacked and the U.S. struck an oil tanker headed to the Islamic Republic. Kuwait has been one of Tehran's main targets during the truce.
