US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a 50 per cent tariff on all countries supplying arms to Iran, amid the two-week ceasefire in a war that has passed a month.
This comes after Iran on Wednesday attacked several Gulf nations, including Kuwait and the UAE, with missiles and drone attacks.
"A Country supplying Military Weapons to Iran will be immediately tariffed, on any and all goods sold to the United States of America, 50 per cent, effective immediately. There will be no exclusions or exemptions!" he wrote in his latest post, after the attacks on UAE and Kuwait had taken place.
However, the US has not yet said whether the tariff imposition is a direct response to the post-ceasefire airstrikes or not. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has also resumed to a small degree, as a few ships began transiting the waterway after the ceasefire was announced.
The UAE's Ministry of Defence noted that its air defences had faced 17 ballistic missiles and 35 UAVs—a major escalation of the war in the Gulf, despite the US and Iran agreeing to a ceasefire just hours before the airstrikes began.
According to a statement from Kuwait's army, its air defences had been engaging drones and missiles from Iran since about 8 AM (local time).
According to the army, the "intense hostile Iranian attacks" from about 28 drones had targeted vital oil facilities, power stations, and water desalination plants, causing serious damage to infrastructure.
“Kuwaiti armed forces intercepted a large number of drones, some of which targeted vital oil installations and power stations in the south of the country,” the statement added.
Iran and the US had agreed to a fragile two-week ceasefire on Wednesday, just minutes before the end of US President Donald Trump's 10-day ultimatum for Tehran.
The Pakistan-mediated ceasefire is based on Washington's 15-point ceasefire proposal and a 10-point reciprocal proposal from Iran, which Trump said had a "workable basis".
"Iran can start the reconstruction process. We’ll be loading up with supplies of all kinds, and just “hangin’ around” in order to make sure that everything goes well," he wrote in a Truth Social post after the terms of the ceasefire were reached.
"We are, and will be, talking Tariff and Sanctions relief with Iran. Many of the 15 points have already been been agreed to, he added in another post.