EU says renewed US-Iran tensions further complicate talks to end war

The EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Wednesday that the renewed tensions between the US and Iran could complicate talks to end the war.

"The exchanges of fire between the US and Iran further complicate already fraught talks to end the war. Iran’s attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait are unacceptable," Kallas wrote on US social media platform X.

Pointing to Iran's commitment to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, she said its recent attacks on ships near the strategic waterway violate the commitment and threaten to disrupt the resumption of energy supplies. She called for the freedom of navigation to be unimpeded.

"Next Monday, EU Foreign Ministers will meet with their Gulf counterparts to discuss how we can work together to support the implementation of the agreement and preserve freedom of navigation in the Strait as well as the Red Sea," Kallas added.

Earlier, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it launched a missile and drone operation targeting 85 US military sites, including Salman Port, the headquarters of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, and Ali Al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait.

Meanwhile, the US military said it carried out a new wave of strikes against Iran, hitting more than 80 targets in response to Iranian attacks on commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the strikes were conducted "in immediate response to Iranian attacks on commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz."

Iran and the US reached a memorandum of understanding on June 17 aimed at ending their military conflict, which began late February.