Trump warns U.S. could return to war as Iran strikes escalate

President Donald Trump warned that the United States could be forced back into war as Iran widened its missile and drone attacks into Bahrain and Kuwait, pushing the conflict beyond direct U.S.-Iran exchanges and into the Gulf’s frontline states. Bahrain said its air defenses intercepted the incoming weapons, and the Bahrain Interior Ministry reported damage to a residential building in Muharraq with no deaths.

The escalation followed fresh U.S. airstrikes on Iranian military targets, which Washington said were aimed at systems linked to threats against American forces and commercial shipping. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it launched the attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait in response, and threatened a “complete halt” to negotiations if the U.S. continued striking Iranian targets. Kuwait said its air defenses were confronting “hostile” missile and drone attacks, underscoring how quickly the fighting had spread across neighboring states.

The strikes on Bahrain and Kuwait matter because they pull two Gulf partners directly into a confrontation that had already endangered shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important oil and gas chokepoints. The latest violence also raises the risk to U.S. military bases and alliances across the region, where American security commitments depend on Gulf states that now have to absorb the fallout of a widening air campaign. Once the fighting reaches Bahrain and Kuwait, the crisis is no longer just about U.S. retaliation against Iran. It becomes a test of Gulf air defenses, regional deterrence and the credibility of the alliance network that keeps the waterway open.

The escalation came after a fragile U.S.-Iran framework deal announced in mid-June to end fighting and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and it has now put that agreement under severe strain. The conflict had already hit maritime traffic after Iran attacked a Singapore-flagged commercial vessel in the strait earlier in the week, prompting additional U.S. strikes. With the Gulf’s shipping lanes under pressure and the talks facing a “complete halt” threat, any remaining diplomatic off-ramp has narrowed further as the confrontation spread from the strait to Bahrain and Kuwait.