Iran targets Bahrain and Kuwait after US launches strikes and limits the
sale of Iranian oil
[July 08, 2026]
By JON GAMBRELL
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. launched strikes on Iran
early Wednesday, hours after it revoked a license authorizing the sale
of Iranian oil in retaliation for what it said were Tehran’s attacks on
ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran hit back with strikes on Bahrain and
Kuwait.
The crossfire raised the risk that an interim agreement to halt fighting
in the war could break down and drag the Middle East again into a wider
conflict. It also threatened efforts to resume fuel shipments in the
strait that are crucial to the global economy, and oil prices rose.
The attacks on shipping and the resulting strikes came during the
dayslong funeral for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who
was killed Feb. 28 in the war’s first moments. The funeral, which ends
Thursday, was supposed to be a period of lower tensions — though
mourners have repeatedly called for the killings of U.S. President
Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Negotiations to reach a final deal had been due to start after
Khamenei’s burial and focus on the toughest matters, including fully
reopening the strait and rolling back Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.
But the new attacks throw that into question, though neither country
immediately signaled they’d walk away from the negotiating table.
“The era of bullying and extortion is over,” Iran’s Parliament Speaker
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf wrote on X. “It leads nowhere. We don’t fold.”
Overnight US strikes target Iran
The U.S. military’s Central Command said American forces launched
strikes “to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial
shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway.”
It said it hit Iranian targets including air defense systems, radars and
over 60 small boats used by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
Those boats have been key to threatening ships in the strait, through
which a fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas passed before
the war. Iran’s ability to bring shipping in the waterway to a near halt
during the war proved its greatest strategic advantage as rising prices
for energy supplies, fertilizer and food put pressure on the U.S. to
make a deal. On Wednesday, the price of Brent crude, the international
standard, rose.
The U.S. military remains “prepared to hold Iran accountable when the
agreement is not adhered to or obeyed,” it added, saying this round of
attacks had ended.
Iranian state media reported explosions in several locations, including
in Bandar Mahshahr, where a Guard member was killed. It also reported
attacks on Bushehr, home to Iran’s nuclear power plant complex.
On Wednesday morning, both Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet,
and Kuwait, home to U.S. Army forces, sounded missile alerts. The Guard
issued a statement acknowledging targeting U.S. military installations
in both countries.
A similar spate of Iranian attacks on shipping and U.S. retaliatory
strikes occurred late last month — which similarly drew Iranian attacks
on Bahrain and Kuwait. Wednesday’s strikes came as Trump was in Turkey
for a summit of the NATO military alliance.
Anwar Gargash, a senior diplomat in the United Arab Emirates, called
Iran’s attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait “a clear indicator that Tehran
remains incapable of committing to the requirements of de-escalation and
turning the page on war.”
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A group of people stands in shallow water as a cargo ship appears
anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Tuesday,
June 30, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)
US revokes the license for the sale of Iranian oil
Before the strikes, the U.S. revoked a license that authorized the
sale of Iranian oil as part of the interim deal. That paused U.S.
sanctions and allowed Iran to conduct oil sales openly for U.S.
dollars for the first time in years. Iran long had been suspected of
selling sanctioned crude at below-market prices to China.
The decision came after the strikes on shipping. One tanker was off
the coast of Oman when it was hit and caught fire, the United
Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. Iranian state
television said the tanker came under attack after ignoring warnings
but did not directly claim the assault.
Majed al-Ansari, a spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry,
said the tanker was carrying Qatari natural gas and called the
strike an “unacceptable attack” on international navigation and
global energy security. He said Qatar, which has been a key mediator
alongside Pakistan in the talks, holds Iran “fully legally
responsible.”
The other two ships sustained some damage, but no one was injured,
and both continued on their way, the U.K. agency said.
Iran and the United States agreed as part of the interim deal to
allow ships to pass through the strait without paying charges for 60
days. But Tehran has insisted it must control the vessels’ routes
and vowed to later charge fees for passage. That would upend decades
of practice in the waterway. The ships attacked Tuesday all appeared
to be using a route close to Oman’s shore, rather than one ordered
by Tehran.
The U.S. and many Gulf Arab states say they will not agree to Iran
charging for passage through the strait.
Mourners attend Khamenei's funeral services in Iraq
Funeral ceremonies for Khamenei were held Wednesday in the Iraqi
city of Najaf. Attending the services are Iranian President Masoud
Pezeshkian and other Iranian as well as Iraqi officials, including
Prime Minister Ali Falah al-Zaidi. There will be funeral prayers
later at the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala as well.
Khamenei’s son, Iran’s new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei,
has yet to make an appearance at the ceremonies, which began
Saturday in Tehran. He is believed to be in hiding after reportedly
being wounded in the airstrike that killed his father.
Khamenei’s body will then be returned to Iran to be buried Thursday
at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, his birthplace.
___
Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, and Qassim
Abdul-Zahra in Najaf, Iraq, contributed to this report.
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