President Donald Trump has said that the US is confronting Iran to protect its allies in the Middle East and Western nations from potential attacks.
"We're doing it to help the Middle East. We're doing it to help Israel. We're doing it to help ourselves because after they annihilate Israel, which they would have done very gladly, and then the Middle East, then they come after Europe and they come after some of our cities," said Trump on Wednesday.
He said the US is "doing really well with Iran."
The comments were made amid a fresh flare-up that ended a roughly month-long lull in fighting.
The US struck rocket launchers on Larak Island in Iran during the weekend. Tehran responded by launching missiles at Jordan and the UAE.
On Thursday, sirens sounded in Kuwait, where air defences were intercepting missile and drone attacks during a “blatant Iranian aggression,” the country’s Ministry of Defence said on X.
Fighting has escalated since the US military hit Iranian targets on an island in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, saying Iran was planning to use them to lay mines.
Iran retaliated by firing missiles at American bases in Jordan that were intercepted.
