Tit-for-tat attacks continue across the Persian Gulf despite U.S.-Iran ceasefire while a new flashpoint emerges

Iran launched a drone assault targeting Bahrain while a ship in the Strait of Hormuz separately came under attack Saturday, likely Tehran’s response to overnight airstrikes by the United States. The attacks across the Persian Gulf show the danger of the Iran war again spinning out of control, even after Iran and the U.S. reached an interim deal to try and agree on a final accord to end the conflict. The U.S. had launched its airstrikes in response to an Iranian drone attack on a ship trying to get out of the strait on Thursday, continuing a string of attacks that have shaken the uneasy ceasefire in the war. Meanwhile, a multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Saturday that it would expand a route near Oman in the strait to allow for both inbound and outbound traffic — likely setting up a new flashpoint with Tehran. Bahrain condemns Iran’s drone attack That Iran targeted Bahrain likely was not coincidental. The kingdom has been one of the strongest critics of Iran and is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. It just hosted U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio for a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council’s foreign ministers, which ended with a call for an end to Iran’s attacks and the strait to be completely open. A statement from Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry said a “number of Iranian drones” targeted the country. It called the attack “a flagrant threat to the security of citizens and residents.” Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard earlier on Saturday issued a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency saying it had targeted several locations “of the U.S. terrorist army in the region.” It did not name what areas were targeted. The U.S. military’s Central Command said the military struck Iranian missile and drone locations and coastal radar sites in the overnight strikes. U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who has led the American negotiations with Iran, said on social media Friday night that Iran should “pick up the phone”