Even as the Iranian state media reported attacks by the US on Qeshm island, Bandar Abbas and Sirik, where civilians have been injured, the US Central Command has claimed launching ‘powerful’ strikes on 80 targets in response to attacks on three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.

With fresh retaliatory attacks between the US and Iran breaking out in the Gulf region, Nato chief Mark Rutte said the American strikes on Iran were ‘absolutely necessary’.

Accusing the US of breaching the Memorandum of Understanding by ‘violating Iranian adjustments in the Strait’, Iran’s speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said, “The era of bullying and extortion is over. It leads nowhere. We don’t fold.”

However, Kuwait has responded to the Iranian strikes on its country, lambasting the ‘repeated attacks’. The General Staff of the Kuwaiti Army confirmed that Kuwait’s air defence systems were engaging with hostile drones and missiles, and that the blasts heard in some parts of the country were from mid-air interceptions. – editor@nrifocus.com