US strikes Iran after a month’s lull and the retaliation lands on Amman, Kuwait and Bahrain

US Central Command said it “successfully completed a wave of strikes against Iranian military targets on September 1,” adding that “the strikes follow recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” per its statement as carried by Haaretz’s live file. Al Jazeera’s live coverage frames 1 September as the first clash in a month — a resumption after a lull, not a continuation — and reports four people killed at a wedding party in Sirik, a casualty claim this desk has found in only that one file and does not treat as established. The return fire went to Arab territory. Jordan’s army says it intercepted 10 ballistic missiles launched from Iran at a US base, with three others landing in remote areas, according to the Times of Israel’s 1 September live file. Officials in Kuwait and Bahrain, both hosts to US troops, reported air defences activated against incoming Iranian drones, with no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

By Thursday morning the Kuwaiti army said its air defences were responding to missile and drone attacks and blamed “Iranian aggression” — Kuwait’s own wording, per Haaretz. Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of killing two crew members aboard a state-owned tanker transiting Hormuz, a government claim carried by the Times of Israel on 2 September and not corroborated elsewhere in this desk’s material. Israel’s declared posture, per a Times of Israel item of 2 September, is that it is ready to strike Iran “decisively” if attacked during the upcoming holidays; the same summary attributes to the Defence Minister the line “They like to attack on Jewish holidays because, after all, they hate Jews.” This desk has that quote from the outlet’s index summary only. Separately, Haaretz’s 3 September file leads with a Wall Street Journal report that the US Defense Secretary has extended Middle East force deployments into 2027 — a press report, not an announcement.

Assessment: Read the geography of the retaliation before the rhetoric. Tehran answered an American strike by hitting American infrastructure on Jordanian, Kuwaiti and Bahraini soil, leaving Israel out of the exchange entirely — which suits Jerusalem’s campaign season and leaves the Gulf states absorbing the cost of a war they did not start. That is why Katz’s holiday framing deserves scepticism: it pre-positions a justification against a fixed calendar, Rosh Hashanah, and the same device has been used in earlier rounds. The item that would actually change the region is the least dramatic one. If the WSJ report on deployments running into 2027 holds, a surge has quietly become a standing posture, and the Gulf’s interception claims become a permanent line item.