Iran and the United States have traded threats after some of the heaviest fighting in weeks engulfed the Middle East, deepening the foes' stalemate six months into the war.

Kuwait's army said on Thursday it was intercepting a missile and drone attack from Iran.

"Kuwaiti air defences are currently engaging hostile missile and drone attacks following the heinous Iranian aggression," Kuwait's army wrote on X.

Iranian state TV confirmed Tehran was targeting US bases in Kuwait "in response to America's crimes against the Iranian people".

The attack came after US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the country's forces staged a "very heavy attack" on Iranian targets overnight and are "prepared to do another one any time we want".

Tehran's security chief warned that Iran had adopted a "new strategy" in the war that began in late February with US-Israeli attacks on the Islamic Republic.

"You will soon see that Iran's new strategy on the battlefield, in diplomacy and in confronting the economic blockade will shatter your foundations," Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei wrote on X.

Washington has vowed to ramp up economic pressure on Iran, threatening its allies with sanctions.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright pledged on Wednesday that a plan for expanded sanctions targeting Iran's economic partners would deliver "absolutely maximum pressure".

Trump also suggested on Wednesday renaming the Strait of Hormuz, the vital oil waterway that Tehran has effectively shut for six months, as "Trump Strait" – although he implied later that he wasn't serious.

"Now that we have it under USA. control, should we change the name Hormuz Strait to TRUMP STRAIT???" the US president said in a post on Truth Social.

Iran targeted US bases in Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region after extensive US bombardment on Tuesday of sites across Iran.

Tehran reacted with fury after the Iranian Red Crescent said a US attack that hit a wedding in Iran's south killed four people, including a child, and wounded more than 50 people.

"The truth of this unlawful war of choice – and the true face of the war crime – is in Sirik, where a wedding ceremony was brutally bombed as part of America's desperate struggle to conceal its failure," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei posted on X.

Iran's top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf lashed out at Washington over the wedding attack, calling the United States "Satan".

"If a power acts like Satan, picks targets like Satan, and kills like Satan, it's Satan," he posted on X.

The latest round of fighting began when Washington hit Iranian targets on Sunday, the first known strikes in several weeks.

Tehran's forces then targeted US troops in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, and projectiles struck two oil tankers in unclaimed attacks, one of which killed two Filipino sailors, according to a Saudi shipping company. (AFP)



Edited by Tony Sabine