{"id":327420,"date":"2026-05-28T06:04:40","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T06:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=327420"},"modified":"2026-05-29T06:53:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T06:53:58","slug":"us-and-iran-exchange-strikes-as-israel-intensifies-attacks-on-southern-lebanon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=327420","title":{"rendered":"US and Iran exchange strikes as Israel intensifies attacks on southern Lebanon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark Saunokonoko \u2013 The Guardian May 28, 2026<\/strong><\/h1>\n

The US has carried out new strikes inside Iran<\/a> , targeting a military facility and downing Iranian attack drones, US officials said, which prompted an apparent Iranian retaliatory attack on an American airbase in Kuwait.<\/p>\n

US Central Command forces shot down four Iranian one-way attack drones that posed a threat around the strait of Hormuz, according to US officials, who were not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

A ground control station in Iran\u2019s Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a fifth drone was hit by the attacks, officials said. \u201cThese actions were measured, purely defensive, and intended to maintain the ceasefire,\u201d an official told Reuters.<\/p>\n

Two hours later, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported the Revolutionary Guards had targeted an American base in Kuwait \u201cthat served as the source of the attack\u201d, in retaliation for the strikes. Kuwait\u2019s army confirmed its air defences were intercepting hostile missile and drone threats, just before 6am in Kuwait City.<\/p>\n

The apparent tit-for-tat strikes came as Iranian forces also fired at four ships attempting to cross the strait, IRIB reported. \u201cFour vessels attempted to cross the strait of Hormuz and enter the Persian Gulf without coordination with the security forces,\u201d IRIB posted on Telegram, saying the incident took place at around 12.35am local time but without providing details on the ships.<\/p>\n

The fresh strikes, combined with the latest strident remarks from Donald Trump<\/a> about Iran, Oman and the strait of Hormuz, underscored how far apart the US and Iran appear to be in talks aimed at ending the war. Meanwhile, in Lebanon, Israel launched broad strikes and declared a huge swathe of the south a new combat zone.<\/p>\n

After saying over the weekend that a deal was close, Trump on Wednesday threatened to \u201cfinish the job\u201d if Tehran did not agree to deal.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Iran] want very much to make a deal. So far they haven\u2019t gotten there. We\u2019re not satisfied with it, but we will be,\u201d he said at a televised White House cabinet meeting. \u201cEither that or we\u2019ll have to just finish the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

He claimed Iran was \u201cnegotiating on fumes\u201d and insisted that November\u2019s midterm elections won\u2019t make him rush into a deal<\/a> to end a conflict that has rocked the global economy. Trump and US officials frequently stated the war would be over in four to six weeks, in the days after US-Israeli strikes first launched on 28 February.<\/p>\n

At the cabinet meeting, Trump also appeared to direct a warning at Oman<\/a>, a US ally, when asked about a possible short-term arrangement allowing Iran and Oman to control the strait of Hormuz, which remains choked off.<\/p>\n

Trump said the strait would be \u201copen to everybody\u201d and \u201cand Oman will behave just like everybody else or we\u2019ll have to blow them up.\u201d The White House did not immediately clarify whether Trump had misspoken.<\/p>\n

Iranian state TV had earlier claimed it had obtained an unofficial draft of an agreement that would restore commercial shipping through the strait to prewar levels within a month, with Iran and Oman jointly managing traffic. The White House called the report a \u201ccomplete fabrication\u201d.<\/p>\n

Another key issue unresolved is if a US-Iran ceasefire will cover Israel\u2019s operations against Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group in Lebanon<\/a>. Iran has insisted Lebanon must be covered by any ceasefire agreement negotiated with the US.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said his military is \u201cdeepening its operation\u201d in Lebanon<\/a>; and overnight Israel\u2019s military clashed with Hezbollah fighters along a strategic river in southern Lebanon as Israeli troops pushed farther north. Hezbollah described \u201cpoint-blank range\u201d combat with Israeli forces in a strategic town just beyond an Israeli-declared \u201cyellow line\u201d<\/a> in the country\u2019s south<\/p>\n

The Israeli military said it had struck 550 targets since the beginning of the week, a significant increase in attacks. Hezbollah has vowed to fight until the war ends in Lebanon and Israel<\/a> withdraws its troops from the country\u2019s south. Hezbollah has dismissed Lebanon\u2019s direct talks with Israel and has backed Iran\u2019s talks with Washington to their war.<\/p>\n

Early on Thursday, Israel\u2019s military issued further evacuation warnings for residents of Tyre in Lebanon\u2019s south.<\/p>\n

More than 1.2 million Lebanese have been displaced by Israeli strikes and evacuation orders since 2 March, when Hezbollah fired at Israel in support of Iran.<\/p>\n

Since then, Israeli strikes have pummelled Lebanon\u2019s south, east and its capital Beirut, killing more than 3,200 people, according to Lebanon\u2019s health ministry.<\/p>\n

Fighting has continued despite a US-brokered ceasefire announced on 16 April<\/a>, which now appears close to collapse. The World Health Organization has said at least 608 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli attacks since the truce.<\/p>\n

The Israeli military said that 10 of its soldiers had been killed since the ceasefire, six by Hezbollah\u2019s explosive drones.<\/p>\n

With Associated Press and Reuters<\/em><\/p>\n

Source\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A U.S. official told Reuters the strikes were \u201cpurely defensive, and intended to maintain the ceasefire,\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[51,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-327420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Iran","category-Israel_Anti-Semitism_Zionism_and_US-UK_allies"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=327420"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":327421,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327420\/revisions\/327421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=327420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=327420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=327420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}