WASHINGTON — The United States and Iran clashed again overnight, with Kuwait and Bahrain caught in the crossfire of the most serious flare-up since a ceasefire went into effect in early April.

The developments follow days of rising tension, including over Israeli operations against Tehran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, that threaten to derail U.S.-Iran talks about an interim peace deal. The sides have agreed on a rough framework that should extend their truce by two months and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, though negotiations over the final details are dragging on.

Shortly after hitting an empty oil tanker heading to Iran, the U.S. military said it came under missile and drone attack.

Iran targeted the U.S.’s main naval base in the region, located in Bahrain, and the Ali Al-Salem airbase in Kuwait. At least one person was killed in a separate strike on Kuwait’s civilian airport that caused significant material damages and forced a suspensions of flights for a few hours.

The U.S. said Iran fired several ballistic missiles at its allies Bahrain and Kuwait, as well as drones at commercial ships. American forces struck a communications tower on the Iranian island of Qeshm near the strait as part of the skirmishes, which it

The U.S. military said its strikes on Iran were all in self-defense and no American personnel or assets were harmed.

Iran’s foreign ministry said the U.S. attacks on the Iranian tanker and Qeshm were launched from Kuwait and Bahrain, whose rulers bear a “direct and clear responsibility” for Washington’s actions. Kuwait rejected the accusation and expelled two Iranian diplomats in protest for the strke on the airport, as ties between the Gulf nations become further strained.

Trump has spent months projecting confidence that an interim deal, to be followed by further talks over Iran’s nuclear program, is within reach. He’s largely brushed off suggestions the ceasefire, which began on April 8, is fraying.

In Lebanon, the U.S. and Israel have different ideas about what an end to the war should look like. Israel is keen to continue attacking Hezbollah, while Iran insists there must be a ceasefire there too as part of an interim accord with the U.S. President Donald Trump urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a call on Monday to abandon plans to bomb the Lebanese capital of Beirut.

Trump confirmed Wednesday having used expletives during the tense call.

“I did,” Trump said during a conversation with the host of the Pod Force One podcast, when asked about whether he swore at Netanyahu, widely known as Bibi, and called him crazy. “I was a little bit perturbed at him constantly fighting with Lebanon,” Trump said in the episode aired Wednesday. “At some point, I said: ‘Bibi, we have to stop this’.”

Trump was also asked if the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports would still be in place by Labor Day, on Sept. 7. He responded it “could” happen but that he believed it to be unlikely, reiterating that the impasse with Iran will “resolve itself fairly quickly.”

In an interview aired on CNBC on Wednesday. Netanyahu said his relationship with Trump had not shifted after the profanity-laden incident. “He’s been the greatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House,” he said.

Israel has, for now, refrained from that and Hezbollah has reduced its drone attacks on the Jewish state. Fighting, however, continues in southern Lebanon, much of which is now occupied by Israel.

Oil prices have risen along with Iran-U.S. tensions. Brent climbed 2.4% to $97.46 a barrel, extending its gains since last Friday to almost 7%. That’s reversed most of the benchmark’s losses from last week, when some traders anticipated a deal was imminent.

Maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which normally handles one fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, has dwindled since Iran started attacking ships soon after the war erupted in late February.

More vessels have gone through the chokepoint in past two weeks, some of them coordinating with the U.S. military, Bloomberg reported. Though, the numbers are still way down from pre-war levels, which has kept energy prices high and strained the global economy.

While Trump says Iran is desperate for a deal, the Islamic Republic has repeatedly pushed back against American demands and says it’s prepared for a resumption of all-out war.

U.S. and Iranian negotiators are grappling with several critical questions beyond Lebanon, including whether Tehran will allow free passage for ships under an interim accord, which the sides are describing as a memorandum of understanding.

Iran also wants billions of dollars of funds stuck in countries such as Qatar to be unfrozen and is resisting U.S. pressure to destroy or send to a country like China its stocks of highly-enriched uranium.

The wider talks, to commence once there’s a short-term deal in place, will be complicated and focus on Washington’s demand that Iran hold off on processing uranium for around 15 years.

Washington fears Tehran wants to enrich uranium to build an atomic weapon. Iran has always denied that, but has processed the metal almost to military-grade levels.

Here’s more on the Iran war:

—The risk that Iran is covertly pursuing nuclear weapons is higher today than before the U.S. and Israel launched their first military attacks on the Islamic Republic a year ago, western officials said, citing data circulated by the U.N.’s atomic watchdog.

—The Trump administration sanctioned Iran’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange and three other entities in a continued effort to pressure the Islamic Republic into a deal.

—Some Greek oil tanker owners are moving their ships closer to the Persian Gulf, in a bet that the vessels will soon be able to earn sky-high rates if the Strait of Hormuz reopens.

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(With assistance from Derek Wallbank, Michelle Jamrisko, Nick Wadhams, Anand Krishnamoorthy and Magdalena Del Valle.)

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