The China Mail - US, Iran trade strikes despite visas for World Cup footballers

Weeks of complex talks marked by threats and flare-ups of violence have failed to secure a deal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key conduit for global energy flows.

A ceasefire in the Middle East war, triggered nearly 100 days ago by US and Israeli strikes that wiped out Iran's top leadership, has been in place since April 8.

But tensions surged again Friday when the US military said it struck radar sites in Iran after downing drones headed toward the strait.

Shortly after, air raid sirens sounded in neighboring Gulf nations Kuwait and Bahrain -- both US allies -- and AFP correspondents in both countries heard explosions.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said early Saturday they had targeted "enemy bases in the area" with missiles in response to a US "invasion" of the country's Sirik and Qeshm islands.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Iran launched seven ballistic missiles toward Kuwait and Bahrain.

CENTCOM said six of the missiles were downed while the seventh "did not reach its intended target."

"There are currently no reports of harm to US personnel, and Iranian claims of damaging US 5th fleet headquarters in Bahrain are false," the command said in a statement.

The latest flare-up came despite the United States moving ahead with allowing Iran's national football team to travel to the FIFA World Cup it is co-hosting with Canada and Mexico.

US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack confirmed the visa issuances, saying that "sports transcends borders, and we look forward to welcoming competitors and fans from around the world."

However, Iran's Fars news agency reported that visas had yet to be issued for some members of the team's "technical and executive staff."

An unnamed US administration official said in a statement: "We will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretenses."

The team is due to fly from Turkey to Spain on Saturday before traveling on to their base camp in Mexico, where they will arrive on Sunday.

- Trading strikes -

Earlier Friday, CENTCOM said its forces also downed four Iranian drones headed toward the Strait of Hormuz before striking Iranian coastal radar installations in Goruk and on Qeshm Island.

"The attack drones posed an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic," while the strikes on radar installations "defend against further attacks," CENTCOM said in a statement.

Iranian state television IRIB reported early Saturday, local time, that "several explosions were heard" in Sirik in southern Iran at around 2:30 am (2300 GMT Friday).

"Following the invasion of the child-killing and terrorist US army into Sirik and Qeshm Island, enemy bases in the region were hit by aerial missiles," IRIB reported, quoting the Guards after the US strikes on Iran.

Kuwait's military said early Saturday it was responding to "hostile" missile and drone attacks, days after a strike on the country's international airport killed one and wounded dozens.

"Kuwaiti air defenses are currently responding to hostile missile and drone attacks," the military said on X, without specifying their origin.

US President Donald Trump told NBC News on Friday that Iran still retained roughly "21, 22 percent" of its missile stockpile despite repeated claims from US officials that Tehran's military capacity had been crippled.

That figure was higher than the 18 percent Trump gave in May.

- Lebanon asks for 'mercy' -

Efforts to turn the truce into a lasting settlement have repeatedly stalled, while the conflict has rattled global markets and increased political pressure on Trump at home ahead of midterm elections.

"The negotiations are at a deadlock and Trump must break this deadlock," Mohsen Rezaei, military adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, told CNN in an interview on Friday, as he called for the release of frozen Iranian assets to the tune of "$24 billion".

Lebanon -- which was drawn into the Middle East war when Iran-backed Hezbollah attacked Israel on March 2 -- called Friday for Iran to stop interfering in its affairs.

Israel and Tehran-backed Hezbollah traded attacks after a new truce deal was flatly rejected by the group.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam addressed Iran's leaders in frank terms during a press conference, saying: "Have mercy on our south, stop treating it and its people as merely a bargaining chip."

"We are the people of a sovereign nation that refuses to serve as... an open battlefield for their wars."

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi took aim at similar criticism from Lebanese President Joseph Aoun early Saturday, calling on him to save Lebanon from its "real foe."

Iran, in peace negotiations with Washington, has insisted that the fighting in Lebanon and the war in the Gulf are inextricably linked.

F.Brown--ThChM