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Iran has attacked Saudi Arabia for the first time in nearly four months, intensifying the conflict with the US across the Gulf.
Tehran also launched strikes against Kuwait and Bahrain on Saturday, as US President Donald Trump sought to pile economic pressure on Tehran in the battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump said he would reimpose a naval blockade on Iranian ports this week. The US president had lifted the blockade last month after the warring parties signed a memorandum of understanding that extended an April ceasefire by 60 days and was supposed to reopen the strait.
The tit-for-tat strikes in recent days have posed the most serious threat to the ceasefire and upended diplomatic efforts to reopen the vital waterway.
The US military said it targeted “surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage and maritime capabilities” in Iran overnight on Friday.
Iranian state media said on Saturday that the Islamic republic targeted Prince Sultan Air Base in the Saudi city of al-Kharj, which hosts American forces.
Saudi Arabia civil defence issued a warning on Saturday for a threat over Al-Kharj, 85km south-east of the capital Riyadh, as well as Yanbu, a Red Sea port with a refinery and a crude export terminal. However, it was not clear whether Yanbu was targeted.
The kingdom has shifted the majority of its oil exports to the Red Sea using an east-west pipeline after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Kuwait, which along with Bahrain has borne the brunt of Iranian attacks recently, said Iran hit a power generation and water desalination plant on Saturday, the second attack on its infrastructure in two days.
The country’s military said its air-defence systems intercepted multiple waves of drone and ballistic missile attacks, while Kuwait Airways said it had to reschedule most of its flights after its airspace was temporarily closed. Several firefighters and energy sector workers were injured in the attacks, a defence ministry spokesman said.
In neighbouring Bahrain, sirens were sounded several times as the army said it intercepted multiple aerial attacks.
The Revolutionary Guards said it attacked an American base in Bahrain and targeted the main Artificial Intelligence centre in the island kingdom.
The guards warned regional states that host US military forces and allow their territory to be used for attacks on Iran to prepare for a “corresponding response and activate their civilian defence units to protect the lives of citizens by keeping them away from potential targets”.
It said Iran limited its counterstrikes to military targets overnight, in an effort to give the US an opportunity to “change its dishonourable approach”.
In the Iranian city of Jas, desalination facilities were attacked by US forces, cutting the water supply to 10,000 people in 20 villages, according to the region’s water company.
The governor’s office in Hormozgan said the local transportation network, including a tunnel and three bridges, was also hit overnight. The tunnel collapse blocked one of the routes to Bandar Abbas, Iran’s busiest port. Three people were killed and eight injured in the strikes.
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