Jordan’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday condemned Iran’s missile and drone attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait, calling them a “flagrant violation” of sovereignty and a “dangerous escalation” as Arab capitals closed ranks behind the two Gulf kingdoms. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said the strikes amounted to a “blatant breach of international law and the UN Charter,” and pledged “absolute solidarity” with both kingdoms. The language echoed a string of similar statements issued by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE in recent weeks. The fresh condemnation was the diplomatic response to a night of missile and drone attacks launched in the early hours by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The IRGC said it had fired missiles and drones at US-linked targets across the two countries, including Ali Al Salem airbase in Kuwait and infrastructure tied to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, defended the strikes as acts of self-defense, a framing Tehran has used since the war began on February 28. The IRGC separately threatened a “complete halt of ongoing processes” if Washington kept up its strikes, and President Donald Trump responded by warning the US could escalate further.
What Jordan’s Statement Said
The ministry’s language tracked Saudi Arabia’s earlier condemnations almost word for word. Jordan described the attacks as “a flagrant violation of their sovereignty, a threat to their security, stability, and territorial integrity, a dangerous escalation, and a blatant breach of international law and the UN Charter.” Saudi Arabia, in its June 10 statement, used much of the same vocabulary against the same three kingdoms. The wording places Jordan inside a diplomatic convoy rather than out front alone.
The Jordanian statement affirmed “absolute solidarity” with Bahrain and Kuwait and “full support for all measures both nations take to protect their sovereignty, security, and the safety of their citizens and residents.” Egypt’s Foreign Ministry had issued its own condemnation of Iranian attacks on Jordan, Bahrain, and Kuwait on June 10, pledging “full solidarity” with all three states. Saudi Arabia called the strikes “wanton Iranian attacks and barefaced transgressions against the sovereignty” of the three kingdoms in its own June 10 statement. The same language reappears in subsequent condemnations almost line for line, down to the order in which “sovereignty,” “escalation,” and “international law” appear.
Each statement has invoked sovereignty, escalation, and international law in the same order. The repetition across capitals now reads as a coordinated diplomatic posture. Riyadh, Cairo, Manama, Kuwait City, Abu Dhabi, and Amman have used the same formula to describe Iranian strikes that, on Tehran’s side, are framed as self-defense.
The Overnight Strikes
The IRGC said its attacks were a “decisive missile and drone response to US aggression” and accused Washington of acting as a “violating enemy” under the pretext of confronting Iranian naval activity in the Strait of Hormuz. Targets included eight sites across the Gulf, struck between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. local time, hours after US Central Command said it had struck Iranian coastal radar, drone storage, and communications targets on the southern coast. The guard claimed responsibility for striking Ali Al Salem and infrastructure linked to the Fifth Fleet, and warned that “violating the ceasefire” would lead to a “complete halt of ongoing processes.”
Bahrain sounded air-raid sirens before and after dawn. Its Foreign Ministry condemned what it called “a dangerous escalation that reveals that what Tehran is doing is not a passing act, nor an isolated incident, but rather a deliberate approach and a systematic pattern of repeated aggression against the sovereignty of the kingdom.” Kuwait’s armed forces intercepted two Iranian ballistic missiles over its territory, with no casualties or damage reported. Bahrain severed diplomatic relations with Iran in 2016 and has never restored them, and the kingdom’s pattern of strikes since February 28 has made it the most heavily targeted Gulf state after Saudi Arabia.
Tehran’s ‘Self-Defense’ Argument
Our Armed Forces are conducting self-defense strikes on sites the US is permitted to use to attack civilian shipping and violate the ceasefire. Any hostile act will be met with an immediate, decisive response. What sanctions and war failed to achieve won’t be won with more war.
The quote is from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, writing on X and reported by Anadolu Agency. The remarks came in response to comments by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had praised the cooperation of Washington’s regional allies. Araghchi’s framing of “self-defense” has been a constant of Tehran’s diplomatic register since February, and the IRGC’s parallel warning of a “complete halt” to negotiations puts a sharper point on it. The guard’s message is the operational one: each exchange produces both a statement and a missile, and each cycle produces a more coordinated Arab response from Cairo, Riyadh, Amman, and Manama.
Trump’s reply on Sunday was a threat of escalation, not a denial. “There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable… If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. The vacuum between Iran’s “self-defense” framing and the Arab capitals’ “systematic pattern” description is the story Iran’s diplomacy has failed to close for four months. Each new round widens it.
The Arab Wall Closing In
- Eight targets in Bahrain and Kuwait struck by Iran’s IRGC between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. on Sunday, per the guard’s statement.
- Two Iranian ballistic missiles intercepted over Kuwaiti territory, with no casualties or damage reported, per The National.
- 174 missiles and 391 drones brought down by Bahraini and US air defense systems since the war began February 28, per official Bahraini figures.
- 97 days of accumulated strikes on Bahrain prior to the latest wave, per Saudi Press Agency reporting.
- Up to $200 million in estimated repair costs for the US Navy Fifth Fleet headquarters in Manama, per a Pentagon assessment cited by The New York Times.
| State | Date | Key sourced phrase |
|---|---|---|
| Saudi Arabia | June 10, 2026 | “wanton Iranian attacks and barefaced transgressions” |
| Egypt | June 10, 2026 | Iranian attacks condemned “in the strongest terms,” with “full solidarity” pledged |
| Jordan | Sunday (June 28) | “flagrant violation,” “dangerous escalation,” “blatant breach of international law” |
Egypt’s open break with Iran in March set the template. On March 13, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi told President Masoud Pezeshkian by phone that Egypt “categorically condemns” Iran’s targeting of the Gulf states, Jordan, and Iraq, Egypt’s presidency reported. Cairo’s standing condition for normalizing ties with Tehran has been a pledge not to threaten Gulf security, a condition Iran’s strikes keep violating. The June 10 Saudi and Egyptian statements and now Jordan’s Sunday message amount to a coordinated front that Iran did not face at the start of the war.
Qatar and Oman, the two GCC members that maintained open channels with Tehran, have pressed for restraint. The Gulf Cooperation Council publicly said it is weighing a response to Iranian strikes on member states, Anadolu Agency reported. The harder line from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, and the UAE narrows what mediation can deliver. Iran’s official narrative once framed Arab states as bystanders caught between US fire and Iranian retaliation. That framing has collapsed, and each new wave of strikes widens the diplomatic gap with Tehran.
The Geography in the Crossfire
Bahrain sits directly across from Iran, connected to Saudi Arabia by a single 25-kilometer causeway. The kingdom hosts both the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Manama and Sheikh Isa Air Base, and both have been recurring targets since the war’s opening day. Kuwait hosts Ali Al Salem airbase, a major US Army installation, and acts as a forward operating base for US Central Command elements in the region. Inside Iran, the calculus turns on which installations Washington uses to launch strikes, and Araghchi’s “self-defense” frame now names the targets directly. The geography makes the strikes possible, and it also makes the Saudi Crown Prince’s solidarity call with Bahrain’s king a foreseeable next move.
Iran’s calculus has been visible since the war’s opening weeks. The IRGC has framed each exchange as retaliation for US strikes on Iranian coastal radar, drone storage, and communications sites. The latest round came after US Central Command said it had struck Iranian “surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defence sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities” following an attack on the tanker Kiku in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump wrote that the US had “struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites, for violating the Cease Fire Agreement, AGAIN,” and the diplomatic register on both sides is now fixed in place.
Three Months Without a Hormuz Deal
Negotiations to extend the April 8 ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz are now in their third month without a signed agreement. Iran has conditioned any durable deal on sanctions relief and on Iran-controlled passage through the Strait of Hormuz, which once carried a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas; the US has refused both terms. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a Senate appropriations subcommittee on June 2 that no sanctions on Iran would be lifted for Hormuz access.
Trump’s response to the Sunday strikes doubled down on the deadline. A 60-day deadline for negotiations would not be extended, and Tehran must respond quickly, Al Arabiya reported. Negotiations continued in Switzerland last week under the Islamabad memorandum of understanding, and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf told Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Sunday that Iran was “seriously pursuing” efforts to end the war in Lebanon. Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, has signaled it will not retreat from its language, framing Iran’s strikes as a “deliberate approach and a systematic pattern of repeated aggression.” The diplomatic vocabulary is now set, and Iran’s pattern of strikes against 20 US bases since February gives the Arab posture a hard backdrop.
Iran’s stated “self-defense” framing is incompatible with the language Arab governments now use to describe the strikes, and the condemnation gap is widening into a diplomatic gap. Pezeshkian’s earlier calls for restraint have not produced a ceasefire extension. Trump’s warnings have not stopped the IRGC from firing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Jordan condemn?
Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned Iran’s missile and drone strikes on Bahrain and Kuwait on Sunday, calling the attacks a flagrant violation of sovereignty, a threat to security and stability, a dangerous escalation, and a blatant breach of international law and the UN Charter. The ministry pledged absolute solidarity with both kingdoms and full support for any measures they take to protect their territory and citizens.
Who carried out the strikes?
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed responsibility for firing missiles and drones at eight targets in Bahrain and Kuwait in the early hours of Sunday. Targets included Ali Al Salem airbase in Kuwait and infrastructure linked to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.
Why does Iran describe the strikes as self-defense?
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the strikes targeted “sites the US is permitted to use to attack civilian shipping and violate the ceasefire,” adding that any hostile act would be met with an “immediate, decisive response.” The IRGC threatened a “complete halt of ongoing processes” if Washington continued its strikes.
Which Arab states have condemned the strikes?
At least five Arab foreign ministries have issued public condemnations since the latest round of attacks, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, and the UAE. The Gulf Cooperation Council has said publicly it is weighing a response to Iranian strikes on member states.
Is the ceasefire still holding?
Iran and the United States have both accused the other of breaching the April 8 ceasefire, which was brokered by Pakistan. Negotiations to extend the truce and reopen the Strait of Hormuz are now in their third month without a signed agreement.
