On 5 and 7 June 2026, a fresh sequence of attacks reignited the confrontation between Iran and the United States. Seven Iranian ballistic missiles targeted Kuwait and Bahrain, following American strikes on Iranian radars at Qeshm and Sirik. In the Strait of Hormuz, the US Navy shot down four and then two Iranian drones on 6 and 7 June. Kuwait's airport closed for two hours and eleven flights were diverted to Dammam and Riyadh.
The sequence falls on the 100th day of a war triggered by Israeli-American strikes on 28 February, which a ceasefire reached on 8 April was meant to suspend. Now described as fragile or theoretical, that agreement holds only on paper. The Strait of Hormuz, through which a major share of the world's energy trade passes, remains largely closed: the US Navy has escorted nearly 1,000 crossings since April.
Negotiations are stalled over 24 billion dollars in frozen Iranian assets and over the Lebanese file, with Tehran demanding that any agreement include an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon. Pakistan emerged as a mediator, through a letter sent to the Supreme Leader, while relations between Beirut and Tehran grew tense, with several Lebanese officials demanding that Iran stop intervening in the country.
The meaning of these events remains disputed. The timeline of the escalation is contested: some actors trace it to the American strikes, others to the Iranian launches or to an attempt by tankers to escape Iranian control. The economic significance of the strait's closure is also divisive, as is the weight given to civilian casualties. The raw facts are shared; their interpretation is not.
