An Iranian man walks past an image of former and the current Iranian supreme leaders, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (L), Ali Khamenei and his son current leader Mojtaba Khamenei (R), at Imam Khomeini Mosque (Mosalla) during a commemoration for those killed in former wars and also those killed during the latest US-Israel led war, in Tehran on May 24, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) /
The United States and Iran traded strikes on May 28 in their most serious clash since an April ceasefire began, rattling ongoing efforts to negotiate an end to the war and open the vital Strait of Hormuz.
The latest exchange also drew in U.S. ally Kuwait, which said it was responding to incoming fire.
Iranian forces fired at four ships attempting to cross Hormuz, according to state broadcaster IRIB. Iran has blockaded the strait since the start of the war in late February.
U.S. forces struck a ground control station in the southern port area of Bandar Abbas, a U.S. official said, prompting Iran to then target “the American air base that served as the source of the attack”,” according to IRIB, citing the country’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The IRGC did not provide details on the location of the base, though Kuwait, which hosts U.S. troops, said its air defenses were responding to an attack.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei condemned the U.S. strikes and said the Islamic republic would “take all necessary measures to defend its national sovereignty.”
The ministry called the strikes “violations” of the truce, though the U.S. official described them as “purely defensive, and intended to maintain the ceasefire.”
The clash underscored the uncertainty surrounding the stuttering negotiations aimed at formally ending the conflict that began on February 28 with US-Israeli attacks on Iran, though neither side has appeared eager to return to all-out war.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened U.S. ally Oman when asked about a possible short-term arrangement allowing it and Iran to control the Hormuz.
“No, the strait is going to be open to everybody,” Trump said. “It’s international waters and Oman will behave just like everybody else or we’ll have to blow them up.”
Baqaei condemned the threat towards Oman, calling it “a worrying sign of the normalization of anarchy and intimidation in international relations.”
