Trump threatens to annihilate Iran after new exchange of attacks

Tehran said Sunday it carried out a third day of retaliatory strikes against U.S. attacks on Iranian territory, as both accused the other of violating their fragile ceasefire, straining negotiations meant to end the Middle East war.

The exchanges underscored the fragility of a Pakistan-brokered peace process aimed at ending a war launched by the United States and Israel in February, which disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and rattled global energy markets.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday they were taking measures to control traffic in the vital Strait of Hormuz and that violating vessels would be dealt with more firmly than before.

The only authorised passage by Tehran passes through a corridor running along Iran's coast.

The Guards said they had also carried out retaliatory strikes in Kuwait and Bahrain.

In a statement, they said the strikes "destroyed eight important U.S. military facilities at the Ali al-Salem base in Kuwait and at the Fifth Fleet naval base in Port Salman in Bahrain."

"Any enemy aggression, whatever the pretext, even against insignificant targets... will have a crushing response," the Guards said.

Air raid sirens rang out twice in Bahrain on Sunday, according to the Gulf nation's interior ministry.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday that Iran would "no longer exist" if the United States is "forced" to resume the war.

The threat came after U.S. forces said they struck "multiple" Iranian targets Saturday in another tit-for-tat response to attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

"United States aircraft just struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites, for violating the Cease Fire Agreement, AGAIN!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.

"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. If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!" Trump wrote.

AFP