‘Prepare for more powerful missiles’: Iran’s warning despite minister arriving in Pakistan for truce talks

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Tuesday that it conducted fresh attacks on American military targets in Kuwait and Bahrain, including air defence systems in the two neighbouring nations. The attacks came after the United States conducted its 10th consecutive night of strikes on multiple sites across Iran.

As per Tehran’s Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Iran targeted two air systems and a radar installation at two outputs in Bahrain. It further added that Tehran hit missile defence systems, radars, and satellite reception systems in Kuwait. “With this radar sweep, the enemy should prepare for even more decisive and powerful waves of drone and missile attacks,” the IRGC told IRNA.

Iran strikes US allies around the region

Tehran widened its attacks on Tuesday to hit civilian infrastructure across US-allied nations. Jordan’s military said it shot down five drones and three missiles launched by Iran. Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, sounded missile alert sirens the same afternoon after another Iranian barrage targeted the island nation. 

In Kuwait, the country’s Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy Ministry said Iranian strikes hit desalination and power plants for a fourth night in a row on Monday, sparking fires and causing damage, a serious concern given that roughly 90 per cent of Kuwait’s drinking water comes from desalination.

US strikes on Iranian targets

The tensions remained on the boil as American military carried out its 10th consecutive night of strikes on Iran, aimed at degrading Tehran’s military capabilities. The fresh wave of strikes came following the death of another American service member, and after Iran launched attacks on American allies Kuwait, Jordan, and Bahrain, home of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet.

“Today at 4 p.m. ET, U.S. forces began a new round of strikes against Iran at the Commander in Chief’s direction. The strikes are designed to further degrade Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTCOM said in a post on X.

The US has said the strikes are aimed at “degrading” Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a key global oil and gas trade route. Monday’s operation marked the tenth consecutive night of American military action against targets in Iran, as tensions between the two countries continue to escalate.

Hopes of peace remain

Iran’s Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni reached Pakistan on Tuesday for talks aimed at reviving stalled negotiations between Tehran and Washington, at a time when the US and Iran continue trading strikes across the region. Momeni met Pakistan’s army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, according to two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity about the closed-door talks. He later held a separate meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. 

However, no details of Tuesday’s meetings were released, and they came as Tehran continued striking Gulf Arab allies of the US. Separately, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that Washington remains open to talks with Iran, but only if any offer “has to be real,” and it’s still unclear whether Tehran will put forward anything Trump would see as genuine.

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