Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, in a statement carried by the state-run news agency, denied launching attacks on Persian Gulf states on Thursday after Kuwait's announcement. The latter had accused Iran and its proxies of launching drone attacks targeting it despite the two-week ceasefire, while Saudi Arabia said recent attacks damaged its key pipeline.
“If these reports published by the media are true, without a doubt it is the work of the Zionist enemy or America,” the Revolutionary Guard said, denying that it carried out any attacks.
However, the Guard also launched repeated attacks on civilian targets in the war and could also be using Shiite militias in Iraq to launch assaults, providing deniability for Iran ahead of the talks.
Kuwait's foreign ministry said the drone attacks “targeted some vital Kuwaiti facilities" on Thursday night. The statement from the foreign ministry, as reported by the media, put new pressure on the ceasefire ahead of planned talks on Saturday between the United States and Iran in Islamabad.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's local media, quoting an anonymous official, acknowledged a recent attack in the war that damaged its crucial East-West pipeline. That pipeline carries oil out to the Red Sea and avoids the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran maintains a chokehold on despite the pause in the fighting.
This week, the US and Iran made a two-week ceasefire deal, halting the war for the time being, with the immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
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