Iran War Live Updates: U.S. and Iran Trade Strikes, Further Threatening Negotiations

The U.S. military said Iran had launched a ballistic missile toward Kuwait. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said it had targeted an unspecified U.S. base in retaliation for earlier strikes.

by Leo SandsEuan WardQasim Nauman and Eric Schmitt

Here’s the latest

The United States and Iran traded attacks in an overnight spate of hostilities, U.S. and Iranian officials said on Thursday, potentially threatening the already fragile negotiations over the fate of the Strait of Hormuz and a lasting deal to end the war.

Iran fired a ballistic missile early Thursday toward a U.S. base in Kuwait, according to the U.S. military and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which said it was retaliation for strikes in southern Iran. Kuwaiti forces intercepted the Iranian missile, the U.S. Central Command said.

Late Wednesday, the U.S. military downed four Iranian drones and struck a drone ground-control station in Iran, according to a U.S. official who described them as self-defense — the second round of such attacks this weeks.

The exchange of strikes underscored the fragility of negotiations, after Washington and Tehran suggested in recent days that they were close to a narrow agreement to allow commercial shipping to resume in the strait.

On Wednesday, President Trump reiterated that he did not want the waterway to be under Iranian control after an Iranian state media report said Tehran would manage the waterway in cooperation with Oman.

In a statement, the Guards did not specify which base it had targeted but said it was aimed at an American installation from which the U.S. strikes originated. Further U.S. strikes would be met by an even “more decisive” response, the Guards added.

In a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Mr. Trump signaled that he was prepared for protracted negotiations and was indifferent to the domestic political pressure caused by the unpopular war. Iranian officials “thought they were going to outwait me,” he said, adding, “I don’t care about the midterms.”

The Treasury Department said on Wednesday that it had added Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority, an organization that Tehran launched last week to oversee the waterway, to its sanctions list. The Treasury described the Iranian authority as an extortion attempt.

Here’s what else we’re covering:

• Strikes in Lebanon: The Israeli military said on Thursday that it had carried out a strike in Beirut, the first time in three weeks it had hit the Lebanese capital, and targeted Tyre, a city in southern Lebanon. The resurgence in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia, has complicated the broader peace efforts because Iran wants any deal to cover Lebanon.

• Oman threat: Mr. Trump on Wednesday warned Oman, a U.S. ally that has acted as a mediator with Iran, not to enter into any agreement with Tehran to share control of the Strait of Hormuz and threatened to bomb the country if it did. He later said he did not believe the United States would have to take such action. Read more ›

• Energy markets: Oil prices jumped after the latest hostilities. The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose more than 2 percent on Thursday to about $94 a barrel for August delivery. Read more ›

• Iran’s leadership: In a written statement on Thursday, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader, projected resilience and called for national unity. He made no mention of negotiations but warned broadly against internal division.

May 28, 2026, 10:09 a.m. ET2 hours ago

Alan Rappeport

Reporting from Washington

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday that the U.S. would seek to end the ability of Iranian airlines to access landing spots, refueling and ticket sales as part of an effort to increase the economic pressure on Iran. “The Iranian economy and currency are in free fall,” he said in a social media post announcing the new measures. It was not clear if the airline restrictions would be focused on the U.S. or applied to global operations.

May 28, 2026, 11:22 a.m. ET27 minutes ago

Alan Rappeport

Reporting from Washington

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also issued a direct warning to Oman, saying that the Treasury would “aggressively target any actors involved” in imposing a toll system on commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump threatened this week to “blow up” Oman, a U.S. ally, if it participated in any such system following an Iranian state media report that Iran would manage the strait in cooperation with Oman.

May 28, 2026, 7:43 a.m. ET4 hours ago

Euan Ward

Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon

The Israeli military said on Thursday that it had carried out a strike in Beirut. Lebanon’s state-run news agency said the attack had targeted an apartment building on the outskirts of the city’s southern suburbs, a densely populated area where Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed armed group, has long held sway.

It was the first strike near Beirut in three weeks, as Israel ramps up its offensive against Hezbollah and fighting has intensified in Lebanon in recent days. It was not immediately clear who or what was targeted.

May 28, 2026, 7:06 a.m. ET5 hours ago

Leo Sands

Reporting from London

The United States accused Iran of violating the cease-fire agreement by launching a ballistic missile toward Kuwait overnight, hours after U.S. forces said they had conducted strikes in southern Iran. In a statement on Thursday, the U.S. Central Command said Kuwaiti forces had successfully intercepted the missile, which it said was launched by Iran at 10:17 p.m. (Eastern). Iran said earlier that it had attacked an unnamed U.S. base in the region in retaliation to the American strikes.

Kuwait condemned Iran, saying it had targeted the country in a statement published on social media.

May 28, 2026, 7:04 a.m. ET5 hours ago

Leily Nikounazar and Euan Ward

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, sought on Thursday to project resilience after months of war, calling for national unity and reconstruction but making no mention of recent military strikes or talks with the United States to end the conflict. In a written statement to Iranian lawmakers, he warned that Iran’s enemies were trying to create “division and social fragmentation.”

The muted tone of the message was a contrast to warnings from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, which said it had targeted an American base and threatened a “more decisive” response to any further U.S. strikes after attacks in southern Iran. Kuwait said on Thursday that it had rebuffed an Iranian attack on its territory.

May 28, 2026, 6:44 a.m. ET5 hours ago

Leo Sands

Reporting from London

The United Arab Emirates has accused Iran of being behind a drone and missile attack in Kuwait, hours after the Iranian authorities said their forces had targeted an unnamed American military base in response to U.S. strikes. The Kuwaiti military said on Thursday its air defense systems had come under fire but did not specify who had attacked it.

The Emirates’ foreign ministry said in a statement that the Iranian attacks constituted “a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of Kuwait and a threat to its security and stability.”

May 28, 2026, 4:50 a.m. ET7 hours ago

Leo Sands and Leily Nikounazar

Iran has come to the support of Oman after President Trump threatened to attack the Persian Gulf state, a U.S. ally, if it entered an agreement with Iran to manage the Strait of Hormuz. The spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry, Esmail Baghaei, called Trump’s comments “bullying” and “dangerous,” and commended Oman for its “constructive” role in regional diplomacy in a statement on socia media. The president’s warning was “another dangerous sign of the normalization of lawlessness and bullying in international relations” by the United States, he added.