WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military hit targets in Iran on Tuesday and Tehran fired missiles and drones at various sites across the region in response as hostilities flare once again in an intermittent war that has lasted more than six months. One U.S. strike hit a home hosting a wedding, killing five people and wounding dozens, local officials said.
U.S. Central Command said in a statement Tuesday evening that it had completed the latest barrage against Iranian military targets including air defense sites, radar systems and maritime assets.
The U.S. strikes followed others on Sunday that abruptly ended a month without military action and threatened to fully reignite a conflict that has spiked global oil prices and posed political problems for Republicans in November's midterm congressional elections. The renewed fighting comes after President Donald Trump had appeared to pivot toward trying to bend Iran to his will through economic sanctions.
“If the failed Nation of Iran retaliates for this very justified attack, they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level, but it will not be the biggest attack of them all, that is waiting in the wings,” Trump warned on social media.
U.S. Central Command said the latest strikes were in response to Tehran trying to attack commercial ships and American forces in the Middle East. Trump offered an additional explanation, telling Fox News in a phone call that U.S. forces struck Iran's radars.
“They tried to rebuild their radar because they can’t see anything,” Trump told Fox. “We waited until it was almost built and then we hit it."
After the U.S. attacks started, Iran launched ballistic missiles at Jordan. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard claimed to have targeted a U.S. base along Jordan's Gulf of Aqaba coast, according to Iran’s state television.
Jordan’s military said it shot down 10 of the missiles and the three remaining landed in unpopulated areas. Explosions that appeared to be interceptions of incoming air attacks were seen over Aqaba.
Iranian state media reported that the U.S. had bombed civilian sites along Iran's southern coast and hit a civilian airport. A U.S. strike hit a home where a wedding ceremony was being held in Kuhestak in southern Iran, killing five people, including a child, and wounding at least 68 others, Ahmad Nafisi, Hormozgan Province’s deputy governor, told Iranian state television in a phone call.
“Make no mistake: these crimes will not go unpunished,” Ebrahim Azizi, chairman of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said on X.
U.S. Central Command is aware of the reports of civilian casualties, said Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman. He noted that they “originated from Iranian state media.”
“The U.S. military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC,” Hawkins said.
The Kuwaiti Army said on X that its air defenses intercepted drone attacks “following the criminal Iranian aggression.” Iran also said it launched a drone attack at U.S. forces in Bahrain, but there was no immediate confirmation from that country.
Iran's military warns of ‘devastating blows’ as country reports attack on airport
Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff and its joint military command said the armed forces would deliver what they described as “crushing and devastating blows” against the United States. The state-run IRNA news agency cited a statement by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which warned that the attacks have only strengthened the Islamic Republic’s resolve and tightened Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil normally flows.
Explosions were reported across several southern Iranian coastal areas, including the port city of Bandar Abbas that is home to naval and air force facilities as well as Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Witnesses in Bandar Abbas told The Associated Press that the explosions were stronger than those on Sunday and said they saw smoke rising from the eastern part of the city on the strait.
Iranian state television said U.S. strikes hit a fishmeal factory on Qeshm Island and several civilian sites in Hormozgan province. It said a fishing pier and a Ports and Maritime Organization tower in Sirik were among the locations struck.
State TV also reported that the U.S. military struck the civilian Jiroft Airport in central Iran's Kerman province, saying a projectile struck an area outside the runway and caused no casualties or damage to airport infrastructure.
Iranian state television reported that Tavanir, Iran’s electricity grid management company, said several parts of Hormozgan province’s power network had been struck. It said authorities were working to restore resulting outages.
The U.S. and Iran are both seeking control over the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway off Iran's coast that is a vital oil shipping corridor. Tehran effectively closed it after the war began.
Oil prices have moved sharply higher this week with renewed clashes between Iran and the United States. Crude, already up about 7% this week, continued to rise following the strikes on Tuesday.
The price of crude has jumped more than 50% this year and it’s dragged the cost of gasoline upward with it. The cost for a gallon of regular gasoline in the U.S. ticked higher again overnight to $4.10, according to AAA. Last year at this time, a gallon cost $3.19.
Strikes have renewed after Iran said it would stick to a ceasefire deal if the US did the same
Before military action began again, the Trump administration had argued that hitting the right economic target in a campaign of financial isolation would get Tehran to its breaking point. Now, strikes are renewing even as U.S. stockpiles of advanced interceptors have been diminishing and the war has been unpopular among many Americans.
A return to open conflict would be dangerous for the region, where Iran has targeted U.S. military bases and infrastructure in Gulf countries since the war began.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said earlier Tuesday before the latest strikes that the Islamic Republic is ready to return to the interim ceasefire deal reached with the U.S. in June if Washington does the same.
“If the U.S. returns to its commitments in the memorandum of understanding, the Islamic Republic of Iran will immediately reciprocate,” Iranian state media cited Pezeshkian as saying at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Kyrgyzstan.
The June interim deal called for an immediate ceasefire and started a 60-day period for negotiations aimed at reaching a wider agreement, but crumbled soon afterward.
In the previous strikes on Sunday, U.S. Central Command said its forces struck Iranian rocket launchers that would launch sea mines into the strait.
Iran responded to Sunday's attacks by launching missiles at U.S. sites in Jordan, which were intercepted, while the United Arab Emirates said it stopped an Iranian drone over its waters. Trump acknowledged Monday that more strikes might be necessary.
The American military in recent days has cast the renewed fighting as limited. Central Command reiterated Tuesday that its attacks followed Iranian aggression against commercial vessels and American troops in the region.
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Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani and Michelle L. Price in Washington, Christopher Weber in Los Angeles, and Charles Sheehan in New York contributed to this report.
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