The Levant Files

Iran is closely monitoring developments across neighboring countries, with particular attention focused on Azerbaijan, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Syria, Iranian sources familiar with Tehran’s regional security assessments told The Levant Files. The sources said the Islamic Republic is increasingly concerned that its neighbors could provide the United States and Israel with military, logistical or intelligence opportunities that might be used against Iranian territory. Although Tehran continues to convey many of its concerns through diplomatic and security channels, the sources warned that further hostile activity originating from neighboring states could prompt a severe response. Iranian frustration appears particularly pronounced toward Azerbaijan, whose expanding relations and cooperation with Washington and Israel are being scrutinised closely in Tehran. “This is a situation that we constantly monitor,” one source said. “We have already delivered the necessary precautionar...

Bahrain and Kuwait secretly dispatched warplanes to strike military targets inside Iran earlier this month, marking the two small Persian Gulf states' first direct retaliation against Tehran in a conflict now grinding through its fifth month, according to people familiar with the matter. The airstrikes, carried out in the early hours, targeted drone- and missile-storage depots and other military sites inside Iranian territory. The United Arab Emirates, which conducted dozens of strikes against Iran from the war's outset through a ceasefire announced in April, provided intelligence on targets and defensive air cover for the operation — a sign of budding Arab military cooperation against Tehran. The strikes reflect the increasingly difficult position of Gulf Arab states, which have absorbed the bulk of Iran's retaliatory punishment throughout the war and now face the prospect of a prolonged standoff that threatens their security, economies, and very governing models. A Region...

The war between the United States and Iran entered its tenth consecutive night of American strikes on Tuesday, with both sides expanding the geographic scope of their attacks beyond the Strait of Hormuz into a wider arc spanning the Gulf, Jordan and Iraq. US Central Command confirmed it carried out a new wave of strikes against Iran beginning at 4 p.m. ET on Monday, targeting Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, and missile and drone launch sites intended to reduce Iran's ability to attack commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. Explosions were reported across nine locations — Abdanan, Bandar Abbas, Bandar Lengeh, Bushehr, Chabahar, Qeshm Island, Sirik, Shiraz and Konarak — marking a notable inland extension of the campaign, with Shiraz among the newly hit cities. CENTCOM said the naval blockade imposed on Iranian ports since mid-July had already redirected seven commercial vessels and disabled one, while noting th...

Iran announced on Saturday that it has suspended all commitments under the Pakistan-brokered Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding with the United States, marking the formal collapse of the fragile arrangement that had sought to end hostilities between Washington and Tehran after last month's war. The declaration came as Iranian forces struck US-linked infrastructure across Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan for a second consecutive day, and as Washington moved additional aerial refueling assets into Israel amid reports that President Donald Trump is weighing a broader offensive against Iranian territory. Tehran declares the MoU dead Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Tehran considers itself no longer bound by the 14-point Islamabad MoU, arguing that the United States had already dismantled the agreement through repeated violations. "America not only violated the memorandum of understanding but also dismantled it," Gharibabadi said, according to Iran's sta...

Every night for the past week, the world's attention has followed the same script: American strikes on Iranian coastal and transport targets, Iranian missiles fired back at Gulf states, oil prices twitching, the Strait of Hormuz named again and again as the conflict's central prize. But buried inside the hourly bulletins of the past 24 hours is a story that deserves to be read on its own terms, not as a bullet point in a live blog — because it may prove more dangerous, in the long run, than any single round of missiles. Water has become a battlefield. And both sides are now fighting on it, in the open, without pretense. What happened in the last 12 hours In the early hours of Saturday, 18 July, U.S. Central Command confirmed a seventh consecutive night of strikes on Iranian territory, hitting what it described as surveillance sites, military logistics, underground weapons storage and maritime capabilities along the coast facing the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state television rep...

The Middle East convulsed once more overnight as the United States pounded Iranian territory for a sixth consecutive night, tearing through bridges, railways, power stations and coastal radar installations in a campaign that has now killed at least 38 people and wounded more than 400 since a fragile truce collapsed. In return, Tehran unleashed a sweeping wave of retaliation across five Gulf states — a spasm of missiles and drones that has turned the Strait of Hormuz, and the wider waterways around it, into one of the most dangerous chokepoints on Earth. What began seven days ago as a rekindling of hostilities has, by Friday, hardened into something far graver: a widening war that increasingly resembles regional conflagration rather than contained confrontation. The ceasefire memorandum signed in Switzerland weeks ago now lies in tatters, its provisions abandoned amid a relentless cycle of strike and counterstrike that shows no sign of slowing. Sixth Night, Same Fury US Central Co...

As the US-Israel war on Iran approaches its 100th day, few states illustrate the conflict’s regional spillover more sharply than Kuwait. Geographically wedged between Iraq and Saudi Arabia and hosting some of the largest concentrations of US military personnel in the Gulf, the small emirate has become an unwilling frontline in a war it neither sought nor declared. Since Iran launched retaliatory strikes across the Gulf on February 28, following the US-Israeli opening salvo that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Kuwait has absorbed repeated barrages. Iranian drones struck Kuwait International Airport and the Ali Al Salem Air Base, which houses Italian forces, while another drone hit the US garrison at Camp Buehring in the country’s northeast. A separate missile attack targeted a makeshift operations center near the civilian port of Shuaiba, killing six US soldiers and wounding dozens.  The human toll for Kuwait itself has been significant. In the strikes against the country, four sol...

Ankara capitalises on Gulf insecurity and US supply backlogs to cement its role as a major regional defence partner As conflict reshapes the security calculus of the Middle East, Turkey is quietly positioning itself as the region's go-to arms supplier — transforming instability into a strategic and commercial windfall. Writing from Ankara for Middle East Eye, correspondent Ragip Soylu reports that Gulf and Arab states are increasingly turning to Turkish defence manufacturers as Washington's delivery pipelines for Patriot and THAAD systems remain backed up for years. The catalyst is stark: since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran erupted in late February, Gulf states — Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia — have found themselves under mounting pressure. Iranian long-range drones have successfully destroyed several radar installations across the region, exposing critical gaps in their air defence architecture that existing systems were not designed to fill. Ankara moved swiftly to e...

As Washington threatens fresh military strikes against Iran, the Gulf monarchies are far from united — a division that French diplomacy is racing to manage, Le Monde reports.   French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot ended a diplomatic tour of the Gulf on Friday, May 1, under the shadow of an imminent military escalation. Saudi Arabia warned that new American airstrikes against Iranian civilian infrastructure were expected within 48 hours, Le Monde reported. The strikes, threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump since late March, would target Iran following a fragile ceasefire that has held for nearly 30 days. Tehran has already warned that any such attack would trigger retaliatory strikes against Gulf states. A Region Fractured by War The Gulf monarchies are deeply divided over how to respond. Riyadh, relatively spared by Iranian strikes so far, is pushing for de-escalation and seeking to launch a regional conciliation forum, drawing closer to Turkey, Egypt, and Pakistan....

As of Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at 8:00 PM Eastern Time (00:00 GMT Wednesday), President Donald Trump’s final deadline looms for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz—or face what he has promised will be the “complete demolition” of its civilian infrastructure. With just hours remaining, the region remains in a state of high tension, marked by intense military exchanges, frantic diplomatic efforts, and severe global economic consequences.  ⚔️ Military Escalation: Strikes and Retaliation in the Final Hours In the last 12 hours, the conflict has intensified dramatically. Israel launched a major wave of airstrikes across Iran, including the capital, Tehran, targeting Sharif University of Technology, a facility sanctioned for its military research, and the Mahshahr Petrochemical Zone.  Iranian state media confirmed at least 25 people were killed, including Majid Khademi, the intelligence chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)—a significant decapitation strike.  In ...

Two American military transport aircraft became disabled and had to be destroyed inside Iranian territory on Sunday after a special forces mission to extract a downed F-15 crew member ran into serious difficulty, exposing the limits of US operational reach even as President Donald Trump hailed the outcome as one of the most daring rescues in American history. The 37th day of the American-Israeli war on Iran brought simultaneous escalation across the region, with Iranian drone and missile strikes hitting energy infrastructure in Kuwait, the UAE, and Bahrain. According to the New York Times, the two transport aircraft — dispatched to carry commandos and the rescued officer to safety — became stranded at a remote location deep inside Iran. American commanders ordered both aircraft destroyed on the spot to prevent them from falling into Iranian hands, and three additional planes were scrambled to complete the evacuation. The IRGC claimed to have struck two Black Hawk helicopters and a C-13...

The US-Israeli war on Iran entered its 35th day on Friday with a sharp escalation across multiple fronts: Iran claimed to have shot down a second American F-35 fighter jet, launched fresh strikes on Gulf neighbours, and faced renewed threats from President Donald Trump to destroy critical infrastructure — even as a former Iranian foreign minister called for Tehran to "declare victory and make a deal." Iran Claims Second F-35 Shot Down Iran's armed forces announced on Friday that a second US F-35 fighter jet had been shot down over central Iran by Revolutionary Guard air defences, with state media reporting the pilot was unlikely to have survived. A spokesperson for Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya central headquarters confirmed the incident, though there was no immediate comment from Washington. Last month, the US military acknowledged that a separate F-35 had made an emergency landing after a combat mission over Iran, with its pilot in stable condition. Trump Threatens Infras...