EU warns renewed US-Iran tensions complicate peace talks

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, warned on Wednesday that renewed exchanges of fire between the United States and Iran threaten to derail already fragile negotiations aimed at ending the war. "The exchanges of fire between the US and Iran further complicate already fraught talks to end the war. Iran’s attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait are unacceptable," Kallas wrote on social media platform X. She noted that while Tehran had committed to reopening the Strait of Hormuz, recent strikes on commercial vessels near the strategic waterway violate that pledge and endanger the resumption of energy supplies.

Retaliatory strikes

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced earlier on Wednesday that it had launched a missile and drone operation targeting 85 US military sites, including Salman Port — the headquarters of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet in Bahrain — and Ali Al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait. The US military responded with a new wave of strikes against more than 80 targets across Iran, according to a statement from US Central Command (CENTCOM). The command said the strikes were conducted "in immediate response to Iranian attacks on commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz."

Diplomatic efforts

Kallas called for unimpeded freedom of navigation in the strategic chokepoint and stressed that attacks on shipping lanes disrupt global energy supplies. EU foreign ministers are scheduled to meet with their Gulf counterparts next Monday to discuss implementation of the ceasefire agreement and preservation of navigation rights in the Strait and the Red Sea. Washington and Tehran reached a memorandum of understanding on June 17 aimed at ending their military conflict, which began in late February.