Iran War Updates, Iran Targeted American Forces in Kuwait

June 01, 2026

Iran War Updates, Iran Targeted American Forces in Kuwait

A pro-government demonstration in Tehran on Saturday.Credit...Arash Khamooshi/Polaris for The New York Times

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27 minutes ago

Aaron Boxerman Yan Zhuang and Christina Goldbaum

Here’s the latest.

Iran launched two ballistic missiles targeting American forces based in Kuwait early Monday local time, the U.S. military said, further rattling the already shaky cease-fire in the Middle East.

Both missiles were intercepted and no American personnel were harmed, the U.S. military’s Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, said in a statement on social media. The episode followed days of low-level skirmishes between Iran and the United States that have raised fears of escalation, and have strained negotiations to end the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran that began in late February.

The U.S. military said late Sunday that it had attacked radar and command sites in southern Iran over the weekend, in retaliation for Iran shooting down an American drone over international waters. Less than an hour later, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on state media that its forces had targeted a military base from which a U.S. attack on a communications facility had originated.

While President Trump has claimed that the United States has obliterated Iran’s military capabilities, U.S. intelligence assessments suggest that Iran still has significant stockpiles of missiles and overall military power.

Talks to lift Iran’s effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for oil and gas shipments, and end the war have advanced in fits and bursts. Last week, officials familiar with the negotiations said that U.S. and Iranian negotiators had agreed on a document that had been sent to the two countries’ leaders for approval.

It is unclear whether Mojtaba Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader believed to be in hiding, responded to the proposal. But Mr. Trump has pushed to toughen the terms of the deal, sending a revised document to Iran, according to three officials who spoke anonymously because they could not discuss the matter publicly.

Fighting in Lebanon was also complicating efforts to reach a broader agreement with Iran, which has demanded that a cease-fire there between Israel and Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militia, be included in a truce with the United States.

On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said he had ordered the Israeli military to attack the southern outskirts of Beirut, the Lebanese capital, as part of a widening campaign against Hezbollah. Thousands fled the area after the threat, clogging the roads with traffic.

Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, warned that the Israeli escalation could torpedo the broader truce. “The cease-fire between Iran and the U.S. is unequivocally a cease-fire on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” he said on social media.

Here’s what else we’re covering:

Energy markets: Oil prices climbed on Monday as investors weighed a renewed exchange of military strikes between the United States and Iran. Read more ›
Trump comments: Mr. Trump said on social media early Monday that Iran wanted a deal and suggested that criticism from Republicans and Democrats had made negotiations more difficult.
Lebanon castle: The Israeli military said on Sunday that it had captured a strategic, Crusader-era castle in southern Lebanon as part of the most sweeping Israeli invasion in the country in decades. Read more ›
Strait of Hormuz: American forces have helped coordinate the passage of around 70 commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz in the last three weeks, according to U.S. officials. Read more ›

1 hour ago

Aaron Boxerman

Reporting from Jerusalem

Iran launched two ballistic missiles at U.S. forces based in Kuwait early Monday local time, the U.S. military said on social media. The military said American forces had successfully intercepted the two missiles and no personnel were harmed.

1 hour ago

Aaron Boxerman

Reporting from Jerusalem

The Lebanese government vowed on Monday to continue negotiating with Israel despite the Israeli threats to step up attacks on the country as part of its conflict with Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed armed group based there. “Some regrettably consider negotiation to be surrender. It is not that, nor is it a concession,” President Joseph Aoun of Lebanon said in a statement. “It is a solution to stop wars with the least possible harm.”

The Trump administration has brokered talks between Israel and Lebanon in Washington on disarming Hezbollah, whose power and influence has long overshadowed the Lebanese government.

2 hours ago

Aaron Boxerman

Reporting from Jerusalem

As the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon appeared poised to escalate further, Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, warned that the hostilities could further rattle the U.S.-Iran cease-fire that began in April. “The cease-fire between Iran and the U.S. is unequivocally a cease-fire on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” Araghchi said in a social media post. “Its violation on one front is a violation of the cease-fire on all fronts.”

It’s worth noting, though, that Israel and Hezbollah, which is backed by Tehran, have been bombarding one another for weeks without prompting Iran to resume war.

3 hours ago

Christina Goldbaum

Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon

Thousands of people were fleeing Beirut’s southern suburbs on Monday after Israel warned the area would be targeted with attacks. For many, urgently leaving the area, known as the Dahiya, has become a well-worn routine.

“I lost count of how many times I’ve evacuated,” said Zahra Khomasi, 43, as she sat in her car in Tayouneh on the outskirts of Dahiya. Khomasi fled her home during the last escalation between Hezbollah and Israel in 2024 and then again when the war began in March. She returned in April after a shaky cease-fire went into effect, only to hurriedly pack up again on Monday and leave with her children, ages 14 and 9. “We’ve somehow become used to this,” she said.

Image

Credit...Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times

4 hours ago

Ravi Mattu

Reporting from London

Kuwait accused Iran of launching military strikes against it, hours after reporting that its air defenses were dealing with drone and missile attacks. Kuwait hosts U.S. military bases and has come under attack in recent days after Iran said it had targeted American facilities used to launch strikes against it.

The Kuwaiti foreign ministry said Iranian attacks “represent a dangerous escalation and a direct assault on the security and stability” of the country in a statement on social media.

5 hours ago

Aaron Boxerman and Heedo Abu Laban

Reporting from Jerusalem

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said in a statement that he had ordered the Israeli military to attack the southern outskirts of Beirut, the Lebanese capital, as part of the widening Israeli campaign against Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia. Israel has mostly refrained from attacking the city since the U.S.-Iran cease-fire took effect in early April, but it has continued to bombard southern Lebanon. Hezbollah has fired on invading Israeli soldiers, as well as Israeli border communities.

7 hours ago

Yan Zhuang

The U.S. says it hit military targets in Iran and intercepted a missile attack in Kuwait.

Fishing boats idle along the Strait of Hormuz at Qeshm Island, Iran, in May.Credit...Majid Saeedi/Getty Images

The United States said on Sunday that it had attacked military targets in southern Iran over the weekend, the latest in a series of attacks over the past week.

Less than an hour later, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said that its forces had targeted a military base from which it said an American attack on a communications facility in southern Iran had originated.

United States Central Command said that overnight Monday, the U.S. military had “intercepted two Iranian ballistic missiles targeting American forces based in Kuwait.” It said that no U.S. personnel had been harmed. The Kuwaiti authorities had earlier accused Iran of launching a wave of attacks against its territory, without confirming whether a U.S. base had been targeted.

The exchanges may further complicate U.S.-Iranian negotiations over a potential framework for a deal to end the war.

The latest U.S. strikes on Iran’s Persian Gulf coast targeted radar and command and control sites for drones in the city of Goruk and the Island of Qeshm, U.S. Central Command said in a statementlate Sunday.

Central Command said that the U.S. strikes on Saturday and Sunday were a response to what it described as “aggressive Iranian actions,” including the shooting down of a remotely piloted American military drone that had been operating over international waters.

The Revolutionary Guards said in a statement early Monday that Iran had targeted a military base, the country’s state news agency reported. The statement described the move as a retaliation for an American strike on a communications tower on an island in the south.

The statement, which did not identify the base, said that Iran would respond differently if such attacks were repeated.

The U.S. strike appeared to be the third round of American attacks in southern Iran in the past week. Iran has retaliated by targeting bases where it said some of the strikes originated.

Last Monday, the United States struck missile launch sites and Iranian boats trying to emplace mines, Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said at the time.

Those strikes came after U.S. intelligence analysts detected a series of potentially threatening Iranian military actions in the 24 hours leading up to the operation, two U.S. officials told The New York Times, speaking anonymously to discuss operational matters.

On Wednesday, the United States shot down four one-way attack drones. A U.S. official, speaking anonymously, said Iran launched the drones over the Strait of Hormuz, threatening U.S. forces in the region and the limited commercial maritime shipping still transiting the waterway, which Iran has effectively blockaded.

The military then carried out airstrikes against a drone ground-control station in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas before it could fire a fifth drone, the official said.

Following those strikes, the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement carried by Iran’s state broadcaster that it had retaliated by targeting the U.S. air base from which the attack originated.

Farnaz Fassihi and Sanam Mahoozi contributed reporting.

7 hours ago

The New York Times

Oil prices jump as the U.S. and Iran exchange fire.

Oil prices, after falling last week, climbed on Monday as investors weighed a renewed exchange of military strikes between the United States and Iran against indications that both sides remain engaged in negotiations aimed at securing a lasting peace agreement.

Stocks were mixed, pulled higher in East Asia by the continued surge in interest in artificial intelligence, and lower in Europe.

The United States said it carried out a series of “self-defense” strikes in Iran over the weekend, the latest in a series of attacks in the past week. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard announced that it had struck a U.S. air base in retaliation for a U.S. attack on a communications facility.

Oil pushes higher.

The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, rose nearly 3 percent to about $94 a barrel for August delivery, the most heavily traded contract.

West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, jumped 3.5 percent to about $91 a barrel for July delivery, its most popular contract.

Price of Brent crude oil

How much the international benchmark costs

Iran War Live Updates: U.S. Military Says Iran Targeted American Forces in Kuwait Attacks - The New York Times

Stocks are mixed.

Futures on the S&P 500 pointed to a 0.3 percent increase when stocks resume trading in the United States on Monday.
Stocks in Asia, where countries import vast quantities of oil and gas, were mixed. South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI surged 4 percent higher, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose nearly 1 percent. Stocks in mainland China declined.

In Europe, stocks were mixed. The Stoxx 600, a broad-index that tracks the region’s largest companies, was down slightly. Germany’s Dax index was up 0.5 percent.

Nikkei 225 index

How stocks in Japan are trading

Gasoline prices slide.

Gas prices fell again on Monday, dropping to a national average of $4.32 a gallon, according to the AAA motor club. Still, the overall increase in gasoline prices has raised the cost for drivers by 45 percent since the war began.
Gas prices don’t move in lock step with crude, usually trailing increases or drops by a few days.
The average price of diesel pulled back three cents to $5.45 on Sunday, up 45 percent since the start of the war.

How High Are Gas Prices Where You Live?

Here is a county-level look at where drivers are facing the highest costs.

May 31, 2026

Peter Eavis and Eric Schmitt

The U.S. military is quietly guiding ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

Vessels waiting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Before the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, well over 100 commercial ships a day passed through the strait.Credit...Reuters

American forces in recent weeks have helped coordinate the passage of dozens of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, according to U.S. officials, even as travel through the waterway remains risky amid stalled negotiations to end the war with Iran.

U.S. Central Command has guided around 70 commercial ships through the strait, traveling into and out of the Persian Gulf, in the last three weeks, one of the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters. The U.S. officials added that most of the vessels had turned off their transponders to avoid detection when going through the narrow waterway.

The officials declined to say what type of vessels were going through and what route they took, but one official indicated that at least one route was not close to the Iranian coastline. Ships passing near Iran without obtaining Iranian approval face the threat of an almost-certain attack by Iranian drones or missiles, U.S. officials said. Shipping analysts say the U.S.-guided crossings appear to follow routes that are closer to Oman.

Before the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran in late February, well over 100 commercial ships a day passed through the strait. So the U.S.-coordinated passages — an average of three a day over the three-week period — do not represent a big comeback for shipping. And because U.S.-guided crossings take place with transponders turned off, known as “dark” passages, shipping analysts say they cannot independently verify how many may have taken place.

Still, a steady passage of ships under U.S. guidance would suggest that some shipowners are willing to take the risk to get in and out of the Persian Gulf, where many vessels have been stranded for weeks, losing money and leaving their crews in trying conditions.

The U.S.-coordinated route is also an alternative for shipowners who don’t want to have to get permission from Iran or pay a toll to make the crossing. The conflict with Iran has led to a sharp reduction in energy supplies to world markets.

Last week, U.S. officials said Iran and the United States were closeto reaching an agreement that would reopen the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and a significant proportion of its natural gas traveled before the war. But on Sunday, U.S. officials said President Trump had toughened the terms of a framework for a deal.

In early May, Mr. Trump announced a major military operation, Project Freedom, to help get ships through the strait, but then quickly ended it, partly because of objections from Saudi Arabia. Since then, Central Command has encouraged ships to make the passage but has stopped short of providing a naval escort.

“Though U.S. forces are not escorting, we continue to communicate and coordinate with commercial ships seeking to freely and safely transit the Strait of Hormuz, a critical international corridor for regional and global economies,” Capt. Tim Hawkins, a Central Command spokesman, said in a statement on Saturday.

Vessels taking the U.S. route still risk being attacked by Iran, which has claimed that it controls the waterway. American officials say that the Iranian risk is exaggerated and have sought to talk willing vessels through a safe passage to the other side of the strait. While the assistance is known within shipping circles, U.S. officials acknowledge that they have not widely publicized it to avoid Iran targeting vessels venturing through under American guidance.

A container ship was attacked in early May even though it was making the passage during Project Freedom. The ship’s owner, France’s CMA CGM, said it was coordinating with the U.S. military but Central Command said the French ship had not followed certain guidelines.

Noam Raydan, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said Central Command’s total of 70 U.S.-coordinated crossings was higher than she had expected. Because the crossings were done with transponders turned off, Ms. Raydan said it would take time to confirm how many vessels had coordinated with the United States.

“And I doubt names will be revealed, especially if some companies worry about a response from Iran in the future for coordinating with the U.S.,” she said in an email.

During Project Freedom, two ships flying the American maritime flag went through the strait.

In mid-April, the United States started a blockade against ships that had visited Iranian ports. So far, that blockade, operating in the Gulf of Oman, has redirected 116 ships, according to Central Command. The effort has largely cut off Iran’s oil exports.

But Iran still has significant sway over the strait. Many ships continue to use the route that sails close to Iran’s coast, an indication that shipowners and governments are coordinating their passages with Tehran.

Of the 895 crossings of the strait from March 1 to May 19, just over half were done on the Iran route, according to Kpler, a maritime data company. Around 40 percent took an unknown or dark route.

Israeli soldiers have captured a strategic hilltop crowned by the Crusader castle of Beaufort in southern Lebanon, the Israeli military announced on Sunday, part of the most sweeping Israeli invasion in the country in decades.

The seizure of Beaufort, while hailed by Israel’s top leaders, evoked bitter memories in both countries of the deadly fighting there during Israel’s nearly two-decade occupation of southern Lebanon. Israel finally withdrew in 2000 after a bloody insurgency led by Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group.

Now, more than a quarter century later, Hezbollah is once again fighting a guerrilla war against invading Israeli forces; Israeli leaders openly discuss a return to a long-term Israeli “security belt” in Lebanon to fend off Hezbollah attacks; and an Israeli flag flutters over the fortress at Beaufort.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, praised the reconquest of Beaufort on Sunday as a “dramatic step” and vowed that Israeli forces would “deepen and expand” their control of territory in Lebanon.

But military experts said the fortified hilltop was unlikely to protect Israeli forces from Hezbollah’s cable-borne drones, which have led to mounting Israeli casualties. And simply occupying more territory in Lebanon was unlikely to subdue the militant group, they argued.

“The deeper in we go, the more troops we’ll need, the more vulnerable we’ll be, and the more casualties we’ll have” said Eyal Ben-Reuven, a retired Israeli general.

Talks between Israel and the official Lebanese government to crack down on Hezbollah, brokered by the Trump administration, have yet to achieve a breakthrough. But officials and analysts say they will most likely have to be part of any durable solution.

“Without a diplomatic process, nothing is going to be achieved,” said Mr. Ben-Reuven.

Israel has already declared much of southern Lebanon to be a combat zone, ordering the residents of major communities like Nabatieh to flee their homes. More than 1 million Lebanese are displaced, according to the United Nations, and Israeli forces are flattening villages close to the border with Israel.

Haim Har-Zahav, an Israeli writer who fought in Israeli-occupied Lebanon in the 1990s, said Israel’s return to Beaufort reflected how Israel could be barreling toward a similar occupation and war of attrition with Hezbollah. Mr. Har-Zahav, like many other Israelis, now sees that campaign as a strategic disaster.

Israel attacked Beaufort on the first night of its 1982 invasion of Lebanon against the Palestine Liberation Organization, which led to its 18-year occupation in the country’s south. Hezbollah and its allies ultimately forced Israel to withdraw. In the years since, the Iran-backed militants have fought multiple wars with Israel, mostly recently in 2024.

During the occupation, Beaufort later hosted an Israeli military outpost repeatedly pummeled by militant attacks that ultimately became a “a symbol for the entire Israeli presence in Lebanon,” added Mr. Har-Zahav. The fortress also became part of the popular consciousness in Israel because of an Oscar-nominated film.

The fighting in Lebanon has rattled the efforts to reach a broader agreement to end the war that Israel and the United States began against Iran in late February. Iran demanded a cease-fire between Israel and its ally Hezbollah as part of the talks, leading President Trump to declare a truce there in April.

Nearly two months later, the truce has effectively broken down. Near-daily Israeli strikes have killed hundreds in Lebanon since the truce, according to the Lebanese authorities. Hezbollah has fired on Israeli soldiers deployed inside Lebanon, killing roughly a dozen and wounding others, according to the Israeli military.

Mr. Netanyahu has come under increasing domestic pressure to ramp up Israeli attacks in Lebanon amid rising Israeli casualties. But analysts say his options are limited to avoid totally derailing the talks with Iran, which appear to be a higher priority for Mr. Trump.

Gershon Hacohen, a retired Israeli general, said the Israeli military believed taking Beaufort would serve as a show of force against Hezbollah. Israel had sought to capture the fortress in April, before the recent cease-fire, said General Hacohen, who was serving in the reserves at the time. But the operation was called off midway because of heavy Hezbollah fire, he said.

The latest war began in early March, when Hezbollah fired several rockets into northern Israel in solidarity with Iran after the U.S.-Israeli attack. In response, Israel launched a huge military campaign against Hezbollah that has killed more than 3,000 people in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

The Trump administration has sought to cinch a deal between Israel and Lebanon to stop the fighting and disarm Hezbollah. But the Lebanese military is far weaker than Hezbollah’s fighting forces, making a direct confrontation difficult. And as long as Israel remains in southern Lebanon, analysts say, the Lebanese government will have little legitimacy to move against the group.

Hassan Fadlallah, a Hezbollah official, argued on Sunday that the Israeli conquest of the castle showed that Lebanon was receiving nothing in its talks with Israel. Instead, he said, the images of the Israeli flag over the site should galvanize Lebanese to oppose the invasion.

Gabby Sobelman and Hwaida Saad contributed reporting.

May 30, 2026

Luke Broadwater Ronen Bergman and Tyler Pager

Trump sends tougher peace proposals back to Iran, officials say.

A woman holds a photo of Mojtaba Khamenei, the supreme leader, at a recent memorial ceremony in Tehran.Credit...Arash Khamooshi/Polaris for The New York Times

President Trump has toughened the terms of a potential framework for a deal to end the war in Iran, and has sent those proposed changes back to the country for consideration, according to three officials.

It was not immediately clear what changes had been made to the text of the agreement.

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