Iran attacks Gulf allies of the United States expanded sharply on Sunday, with drones and missiles striking Kuwait and Bahrain, a fire breaking out at a Kuwaiti power and water plant, and the Revolutionary Guard claiming to have stopped two vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

The strikes followed an eighth consecutive night of American attacks on Iranian territory.

Multiple Waves Across Two Countries

Both Kuwait and Bahrain reported several rounds of Iranian strikes through the day.

Kuwaiti authorities said one attack ignited a fire at a power and water facility. The Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy condemned what it called heinous Iranian aggression.

Bahrain’s military said its air defenses thwarted attacks it described as treacherous.

Neither country is a combatant in the conventional sense. Both host American military installations, and both have absorbed the majority of Iranian strikes against Gulf neighbours since hostilities resumed this month and effectively destroyed the US-Iran ceasefire.

What Iran Says It Was Aiming At

Iran’s army identified specific military targets in Kuwait: a US ammunition depot at Camp al-Adiri and air defence radars at Ali Al Salem airbase, which hosts American personnel.

In a statement carried by the IRIB broadcaster, the army said its soldiers would remain firm and steadfast in defending the Iranian people against what it called the enemies of Iran and humanity.

Jordan Again

Israel’s military reported that an Iranian missile was fired toward the Jordanian city of Aqaba on Sunday, with sirens sounding in Jordan.

Israeli and Jordanian forces jointly intercepted it, the Israeli military told AFP.

Aqaba has now been targeted repeatedly. Its position beside the Israeli city of Eilat means any engagement there involves the air defences of both countries.

The American Strikes That Preceded It

Washington described the overnight operation as intended to punish Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces responsible for the earlier attacks in Jordan that killed two US service members.

The US military said the strikes also aimed to degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian media reported strikes in Hormozgan and Khuzestan provinces and on Qeshm Island. Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, noted the attacks were less intense than on previous nights.

A Nuclear Site Hit

Later Sunday, Iran’s nuclear energy agency said the United States struck an under-construction nuclear power plant in the country’s southwest, condemning the attack as a violation of international law.

Strikes involving nuclear infrastructure — even facilities not yet operational — reliably draw international scrutiny, both for contamination risk and for the precedent they set.

Two Ships Stopped

The Strait of Hormuz produced its own escalation. The IRGC said it blocked two vessels that attempted to use what it described as an unsafe route, adding that both had been involved in an unspecified accident.

The vagueness of that account is itself notable.

The Dispute Over Who Controls the Waterway

Hormuz has become the central point of contention since the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding signed last month, which extended the April ceasefire and provided for a gradual reopening of the strait.

The two sides read that arrangement in incompatible ways:

• Iranian officials maintain that Tehran retains the right to manage shipping through the strait
• The United States rejects any Iranian control over the waterway and has reimposed its own blockade of Iranian ports

That disagreement is not a technicality. It determines who may stop a ship, on what authority, and what happens when the other side objects.

The Asymmetry That Shapes Everything

Paul Musgrave, professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar, offered an assessment that explains much of the conflict’s trajectory.

Iran, he argued, holds the upper hand in terms of commitment because it views the war as existential.

The asymmetry has been visible since February, in his reading: the government in Tehran is fighting for its survival, while the United States and Israel are fighting over policy choices.

That gap matters more than any comparison of firepower. A state that believes its existence is at stake accepts costs that a state pursuing policy objectives will eventually decline to accept.

Where the Conflict Has Spread

The geography of this war has widened considerably in a short period:

• Iranian strikes on Kuwait and Bahrain, neither of them belligerents
• Missiles fired at Jordan, intercepted by Jordanian and Israeli forces
• American strikes across multiple Iranian provinces for eight straight nights
• Interference with commercial shipping in one of the world’s most critical maritime corridors

Gulf states hosting US facilities have become targets by virtue of that hosting. They have no obvious way to change that status without unwinding security relationships built over decades.

What Comes Next

Nothing in Sunday’s events suggests a path toward de-escalation.

The ceasefire framework is broken, with each side accusing the other of voiding it. Hormuz has two competing claims of authority and both parties now interfering with shipping. Civilian infrastructure in third countries is burning.

Musgrave’s point about commitment is the one worth sitting with. Escalation continues as long as both sides believe continuing costs less than stopping. Only one of them appears to have concluded that stopping is impossible.