U.S. Central Command forces shot down four Iranian one-way attack drones near the Hormuz strait on Thursday, and U.S. officials said the military then struck a ground control station in Bandar Abbas that was preparing to launch a fifth drone.
The exchanges marked a fresh flashpoint in a conflict that has kept the Gulf on edge, with Iranian state broadcaster Irib later reporting that the Revolutionary Guards targeted an American base in Kuwait. Kuwait’s army said its air defences were intercepting missile and drone threats just before 6am in Kuwait City.
The strikes came as oil prices moved higher on Thursday after earlier declines, underscoring how quickly the fighting is rippling through markets. Brent crude rose 1.8% to $95.95 a barrel as traders weighed the risk that attacks around the strait could disrupt shipping through one of the world’s most important energy routes.
President Donald Trump said Tehran very much wanted a deal but had not yet offered enough, adding that the United States was not satisfied with the talks but would be. “Either that or we’ll have to just finish the job,” he said. He also said, “No, the strait is going to be open to everybody,” and, “It’s international waters and Oman will behave just like everybody else or we’ll have to blow them up.”
On the Iranian side, Ebrahim Azizi, who heads the parliament’s national security committee, said Trump swings between pressure and outreach. “It is obvious Trump, seeking a way out of this strategic deadlock, alternates between issuing threats and appealing for an agreement,” he said. That split captures the state of the talks now: both sides are still speaking, but they are still far apart on the terms of any initial deal to end the war.
The military action did not unfold in isolation. On Wednesday, the Israeli military declared a new swathe of southern Lebanon a combat zone and ordered residents to move north, while also saying it was hitting Hezbollah targets in Tyre. Lebanon’s official National News Agency later reported that two people were killed in Tyre in an Israeli drone strike on Thursday morning, and Hamas said Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City killed the new leader of its military wing.
The ceasefire effort remains fragile, and the fighting now spans airspace, coastlines and cities from the Gulf to the Mediterranean. For now, the danger is not just that the talks fail, but that each new strike makes the next round of bargaining harder to reach.
