The US military struck Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz early Sunday morning for the second consecutive night, after Tehran violated the ceasefire by attacking a commercial vessel, prompting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to retaliate with missile and drone strikes on US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain — a rapid escalation that has thrown the fragile US-Iran ceasefire into jeopardy.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Navy and Air Force fighter jets struck 10 Iranian military targets at multiple locations in and near the Strait of Hormuz, in response to an Iranian drone attack on the tanker M/T Kiku. A senior US official said the strikes followed Saturday’s Iranian attack on the commercial vessel near the coast of Oman.

The strikes marked the second night in a row that the US has hit Iranian targets in the area. Friday’s round came after Iran struck the Singapore-flagged cargo ship Ever Lovely on June 25 with a one-way attack drone as it was exiting the Strait of Hormuz along the Omani coast. CENTCOM said that round targeted Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites, calling it “a powerful response” to the attack on the vessel.

President Donald Trump had previewed the Friday strikes in a Truth Social post, writing that Iran fired at least four one-way attack drones at ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz. One drone struck the upper deck of a large cargo ship, damaging it though it was able to continue on its route, while three other drones were shot down. Trump called the attack “a foolish violation of our Ceasefire Agreement.”

Following the latest strikes, CENTCOM said Iran’s “unwarranted aggression against commercial shipping” clearly violated the ceasefire and undermined freedom of navigation through the vital trade corridor. The command said it continues to provide safe passage coordination to commercial vessels transiting the strait and that US forces remain present and vigilant to ensure the agreement is fully adhered to.

Writing on Truth Social, Trump issued a stark warning regarding the potential for further escalation. “There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started,” Trump wrote, adding that should that point be reached, “the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist.”

Iranian state media reported explosions near the port city of Sirik, and later in the village of Maysan on Qeshm Island in southern Iran. The Naval Command of the IRGC responded defiantly to the US strikes, declaring that America’s “blind fire in Sirri” would not solve “the mystery of our dominance over the Strait of Hormuz.” Tehran claimed its own strikes on maritime vessels targeted ships “violating the rules,” framing the attacks as a warning to other vessels transiting the region. The IRGC also issued a direct threat toward Washington, warning that US bases in the region “will experience hell in the coming days.”

Iran followed through by striking US military installations in Kuwait and Bahrain. The IRGC said its navy and aerospace forces carried out joint missile and drone attacks against the sites, framing the action as retaliation for the US strikes on Iranian territory. The IRGC claimed it had destroyed eight significant US military facilities, including sites at the Ali al-Salem base in Kuwait and the Fifth Fleet naval base in Port Salman, Bahrain.

In a statement carried by Press TV, the IRGC warned that any further American action would be met with overwhelming retaliation, declaring that any aggression, “even against insignificant targets,” would draw a “crushing response.” The IRGC further asserted that violating the ceasefire breaches the first clause of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding and would result in a complete halt to all diplomatic processes between the two sides.

Kuwait’s army reported that the country came under attack from hostile missiles and drones, with air defenses actively engaging the threats. The Kuwaiti military urged citizens to follow safety instructions issued by relevant authorities. In Bahrain, home to a major US naval base, air-raid sirens sounded following the Iranian strikes, with the country’s interior ministry calling on residents to remain calm and seek shelter at the nearest safe location.

The rapid exchange raises significant questions about the durability of the broader ceasefire framework and the potential for wider regional escalation, with both Kuwait and Bahrain — close US allies hosting American military infrastructure — now drawn directly into the crossfire.