Iran strikes oil tankers in Strait of Hormuz, triggering fresh US-Iran military exchange

The United States and Iran traded limited military blows again Saturday, deepening tensions as a fragile truce holds and end-of-war negotiations remain deadlocked.

The exchange unfolded in rapid sequence around the Strait of Hormuz: Iran attacked vessels, US forces shot down the drones and struck their launch sites, Iran retaliated against American bases in neighboring countries, and US and allied air defenses intercepted the incoming missiles.

According to statements from both sides, the confrontation began when Iran attacked oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran launched suicide drones at the tankers, which US forces shot down. American forces then struck the coastal bases from which the drones had been launched. Iran responded by attempting retaliatory strikes against US military bases in neighboring countries.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement that it had fired on four oil tankers attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz without authorization.

The IRGC also said it struck US military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain with ballistic missiles in response to the American attacks.

US Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East, said on X that US forces had shot down four Iranian suicide drones fired toward the Strait of Hormuz.

After intercepting the four drones, US forces struck Iranian coastal surveillance radar installations on Goruk and Qeshm Island to prevent further maritime attacks, CENTCOM said.

Within hours of shooting down the four Iranian drones, Iran launched seven ballistic missiles at US military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, CENTCOM added.

The missile launches were Iran's retaliation for the US strikes on its coastal surveillance radar sites.

The Iranian attacks raised alarm not only among US forces but also in Kuwait and Bahrain.

Kuwait's state news agency KUNA, citing military authorities, said Kuwait's air defenses were intercepting missile and drone attacks and that explosions heard in the country resulted from those intercepts.

Bahrain's Interior Ministry activated air raid sirens, though US and host-nation air defense systems blocked Iran's retaliatory strikes.

CENTCOM said six of the seven Iranian missiles were intercepted and the remaining one failed to reach its intended target. It added that there were no reports of US casualties.

CENTCOM also corrected claims that Iran had struck the headquarters of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, calling the assertion false.

Washington views the military actions around the Strait of Hormuz as acts of self-defense carried out while maintaining the truce.

The Trump administration has maintained that its so-called "Operation Mighty Fury" against Iran, launched Feb. 28, has concluded.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified before both chambers of Congress on June 3, saying recent US military operations were a response to Iran's attacks on vessels near the Strait of Hormuz.

"We don't just strike the drone — we strike the people who fired it," Rubio said. "If Iran doesn't shoot at ships, we won't either."

Earlier, on June 3, Iran launched a drone strike on the passenger terminal of Kuwait International Airport, killing one person and wounding dozens. The latest clashes come as the truce Washington and Tehran struck in April remains unstable.

Both the United States and Iran have criticized each other's military actions while showing no sign of moving toward full-scale war.

Trump has told aides he has no intention of resuming full-scale hostilities with Iran unless American lives are lost, according to reports.

Yet repeated military clashes in the Strait of Hormuz raise the risk that miscalculation could escalate into broader fighting, and concerns are growing that the prospect of end-of-war negotiations may be slipping away.

Amid all this, explosions were also heard Saturday in Lebanon, which has rapidly emerged as a key variable in the end-of-war talks alongside the Strait of Hormuz and the question of highly enriched uranium.

Israel bombed southern Lebanon just one day after Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group, rejected a US-brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Lebanese government.

With Hezbollah continuing to launch rockets and drones at Israeli forces, analysts say the ceasefire proposal has in effect collapsed.