CAIRO — President Trump threatened more strikes on Iran as the United States presses for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Hours later on Saturday, Kuwait said it responded to a new round of drone attacks from Iran while a tanker was struck in the strategic waterway.
Meanwhile, Israel carried out heavy strikes on the Gaza Strip after the Palestinian militant group Hamas agreed to disarm under a U.S.-brokered peace plan.
Here are the most important developments in the Middle East on Saturday:
U.S. threatens new strikes
Speaking to reporters Friday during a meeting with members of his Cabinet at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, Trump said that “we just want to win” in Iran and signaled that he expected U.S. military action to continue for some time.
He said the U.S. will hit Iran “very hard” until they can’t take it anymore.
Later that day, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt expressed the U.S. administration’s frustration anew, charging that Tehran last month signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. on a truce but then quickly “broke it, shot at commercial ships, and killed American soldiers.”
“President Trump is not going to stand by and allow this terrorist behavior to occur,” Leavitt said in a statement Friday evening. “Iran will continue to pay until they come to the table in, what President Trump deems, a meaningful way.”
On Saturday, the U.S. State Department issued new security alerts for Americans in 10 countries in the region to exercise heightened caution due to the escalating tensions in the war with Iran.
The warnings — covering Bahrain, Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates — urged U.S. citizens to prepare for the possibility of flight cancellations, temporary airspace closures and other travel disruptions.
New attacks on Kuwait and on shipping
Kuwait’s military said Saturday that its forces were responding to drone attacks, which were part of Iran’s assaults on the country.
In a statement, Maj. Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi, spokesman for Kuwait’s Defense Ministry, said the drones hit “a number of vital facilities,” including a government structure in the country’s north. He said there were no casualties.
The British navy said Saturday that a tanker was struck and a separate explosion hit close to a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Oman. No casualties were reported in either incident, it said. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organization said an unknown projectile hit the vessel on Friday 11 nautical miles northeast of Lima, Oman. The attack damaged the vessel’s engine room.
The group said that on Saturday a large splash and an explosion were reported close to another tanker while it was sailing 21 nautical miles northwest of Khasab city.
Iran has repeatedly attacked vessels attempting to transit through the Strait of Hormuz without its authorization as part of its ongoing conflict with the U.S.
Israel strikes Gaza
Intense Israeli strikes Friday night and Saturday killed at least four people in central and northern Gaza and wounded dozens more, according to local health officials.
The strikes overnight in Gaza followed evacuation warnings by Israel’s military, which said Saturday that it had struck Hamas targets across the territory and dismantled five Hamas storage facilities.
The strikes came after Hamas confirmed Friday that it would agree to disarm in a potential breakthrough for ending the war in Gaza, though major obstacles remain. Israel has not officially commented on the Hamas deal, which is part of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire announced in October.
That agreement called for Hamas to disarm and hand over power to an independent Palestinian administration. Israel was to withdraw and an International Stabilization Force was to be deployed.
In a post on X on Friday, Israeli far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir called the deal “unacceptable” and said the killings in Gaza must continue. “Israel must win,” he said.
Egypt, a key Gaza ceasefire mediator, lauded Hamas and other Palestinian groups for “their positive response” in the phased peace plan, Egyptian state-run media reported.
The Associated Press is tracking the progress of Trump’s plan to end the Israel-Hamas war.
Elsewhere in the region
— Houthi rebels forced eight Saudi ships to reroute from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait after the Iranian-backed rebels announced a blockade on Saudi shipping in the chokepoint. Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, the military spokesman for the Houthis, said in a statement Friday that the vessels changed route to the Cape of Good Hope around Africa to avert the blockade.
— In southern Lebanon, Israeli forces set off explosions Friday to destroy an underground tunnel network under the Crusader-era Beaufort Castle that Israel says had been used by Iran-backed Hezbollah militants as a command center. The 12th century castle, also known as Al-Shaqif, was seized by Israeli forces in May. It was recently added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List over Israel’s objections.
— Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said the Israeli operation sent “negative messages” ahead of upcoming talks in Rome. Israeli and Lebanese negotiating teams are set to meet again there to continue working out a plan under which Israel would withdraw from southern Lebanon in exchange for Hezbollah’s disarmament.
— An Israeli army officer was moderately wounded during operational activity in southern Lebanon overnight into Saturday, Israel’s military said. It was not immediately clear how the officer was wounded. There was no immediate comment from Lebanese authorities or Hezbollah. Thirty-eight Israeli soldiers have been killed in Lebanon or northern Israel since that conflict reignited when Hezbollah fired at Israel shortly after the start of the Iran war.
Magdy and Madhani write for the Associated Press. Madhani reported from Washington.
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