US-Iran war highlights: Pakistan minister in Tehran for talks, Israeli strike kills 3 Lebanese soldiers

US-Iran war highlights: Donald Trump increasingly appears to be boxed in on a conflict that has settled into a holding pattern. US and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative agreement a week ago to extend the ceasefire by 60 days and start a new round of talks on Iran's nuclear programme.

US-Iran war highlights: Iran on Saturday fired ballistic missiles and drones toward Bahrain and Kuwait that were intercepted. Bahrain’s government called on Tehran to halt attacks on Gulf neighbours that test a fragile ceasefire in the ongoing conflict in West Asia. Iran said that it targeted American military assets in both countries, after the US attacked surveillance facilities on Qeshm Island and near Sirik that Iran said were used to protect borders and “ensure the security of navigation in international waters."

The latest exchange of fire came as the Trump administration presses Iran to make a deal to end the war, which has strained the global economy and threatened a hunger crisis in some of the world's most vulnerable countries.

Pakistan's interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, arrived in Iran on Saturday as part of mediation efforts.

US Central Command said it hit the radar sites, including an island in the strait, "to defend against further attacks."

It was the latest in a back-and-forth of attacks that have strained the tenuous ceasefire in the war and efforts to reach a deal to extend it. Earlier this week, Iranian drones heavily damaged a passenger terminal at Kuwait's main airport, killing one person, wounding dozens and briefly closing the airfield.

The US-Iran peace deal

Despite the attacks raising new concerns that the ceasefire could collapse, US President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday that "the situation with Iran seems to be going quite well."

"We're going to come out of Iran very quickly, and it's going to be very strong one way or the other, whether it's a piece of paper or the very tough way," Trump said at an event with farmers in Wisconsin. "The very tough way is maybe the easier way, but we're going to come out, and your fertiliser prices are going to go way down, just like they were four months ago."

Trump increasingly appears to be boxed in on a conflict that has settled into a holding pattern. US and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative agreement a week ago to extend the ceasefire by 60 days and start a new round of talks on Iran's nuclear programme. But Trump has called for unspecified changes, and Iranian officials have shown no public signs of approving the deal.

Asked on Friday why it was taking so long, Trump told NBC's "Meet the Press" it was because "it's a very hard thing for them," citing their "great independence" and the fact that "they're strong, they're proud."

Iran cleared for the FIFA World Cup in the US

Members of Iran's World Cup soccer team have been granted visas to the United States, US officials quoted by the Associated Press said on Friday, clearing them to enter the United States from their training base in Tijuana, Mexico, ahead of their first two matches near Los Angeles this month.

The team's participation in the World Cup has been complicated by Iran's war with Israel and the United States. Problems with processing visas had earlier led Iran to move its training base from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana, on Mexico’s border with California.

One US official said all players on the Iranian team were approved for visas and were in the process of receiving them. A second official said visas had been issued for players, coaches, trainers and some support staff.

The second official could not say if any Iranian applicants had been denied. A third official said athletes and “necessary support staff” had been issued visas, but suggested that some applicants affiliated with the team had been rejected for requesting visas “under false pretences.”