U.S. military says Iran fired missiles at Kuwait in the latest challenge to the fragile ceasefire

This is a locator map for the Gulf Cooperation Council member states: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- The U.S. military said that Kuwait had intercepted missiles launched by Iran late Wednesday night, calling the Iranian attack on one of the U.S. top allies in the Persian Gulf an “egregious ceasefire violation.”

The attack on Kuwait was the latest flare-up to shake the fragile ceasefire reached last month between the U.S. and Iran.

Kuwait had earlier announced an attack on its territory, and Iran announced it had retaliated after strikes earlier in the week on a U.S. base in an Gulf state it did not name.

The Iranian strike came after, earlier in the week, the U.S. said it had struck Iranian missile launch sites, minelaying boats and attack drones it said posed threats near the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Kuwait said it was targeted with a missile and drone attack Thursday, another challenge to the shaky ceasefire in the Iran war following strikes by both Washington and Tehran.

Kuwait’s military made the announcement, without providing further details on what had been targeted. Iran said hours later that it launched an attack in the region, but it did not say exactly what was targeted.

Kuwait, a close ally of the U.S., repeatedly came under fire from Iran and Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq during the war.

The announcement comes as the Middle East is on the edge. U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed confidence that his administration is making headway in negotiations with Iran to end the war, but the talks remain in flux.

Trump is looking for an agreement that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz — through which about a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas once passed. He is also seeking to get Iran to give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium while the Islamic Republic wants economic sanctions to be lifted and frozen assets to be released to aid its shattered economy. The war has been unpopular in the U.S., and Iran’s closure of the strait has sent oil prices skyrocketing, driving up fuel prices around the world.

As the negotiations continue, there have been several challenges to the ceasefire in recent days.

On Monday, the U.S. said it conducted what the Pentagon called “defensive” strikes on missile launch sites and minelaying boats in southern Iran. U.S. officials said late Wednesday in Washington that forces launched more strikes on Iran, shooting down four one-way attack drones that posed a threat around the strait and hitting an Iranian ground control station in Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a fifth drone.

The officials were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard via the state-run IRNA news agency acknowledged the attack around Bandar Abbas International Airport and said it launched its own retaliatory attack on the air base that launched the assault.

It did not elaborate on the target and it wasn’t clear whether that was the attack that Kuwait announced.

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Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.