US retaliates with airstrikes after Iran launches missiles and drones in weekend attacks

The U.S. conducted airstrikes against Iranian military sites on Sunday in retaliation for Iran’s weekend missile and drone attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain. U.S. and allied forces intercepted most of the incoming strikes, but Iran’s actions prompted the American response. Israel’s Defense Forces also struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon’s Dahiyeh district after the group fired rockets toward Israeli territory. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a joint statement confirming the strikes, emphasizing that Israel would not tolerate attacks on its territory. Netanyahu previously stated that Israel had eliminated 350 Hezbollah fighters in the past week and was dismantling the group’s infrastructure near the border. Defense expert Rebeccah Heinrichs, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, expressed skepticism that Iran’s leadership would accept a peace deal with the U.S. She specifically criticized the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, suggesting cooperation was unlikely. U.S. Central Command released images of night flight operations in the Arabian Sea, involving the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush, which is one of two carriers currently operating in the region. Senator James Lankford, R-Okla., noted that U.S.-Iran negotiations remain at a standstill, with no progress in resolving tensions. Meanwhile, Donald Trump proposed that the U.S. would help Iran remove and destroy its uranium supplies if a peace deal were reached, using American equipment. He warned that if no agreement is made, the U.S. would resume military action against Iran, stating that the current conflict does not violate his campaign promise of avoiding 'endless wars.'