TEHRAN(National Times)- Iran pushed ahead with strikes targeting American interests around the Middle East on Wednesday after vowing \u201csevere\u201d consequences to a fresh wave of US attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The latest flare-up is part of a cycle of retaliation that followed US strikes on Iran, with fighting over the Hormuz strait expanding to Washington\u2019s Gulf allies, military bases and commercial shipping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tehran said it launched ballistic missile attacks on two US bases in Jordan, according to Iranian media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Washington did not immediately comment on the reports, although US President Donald Trump had warned earlier of \u201cmuch harder and higher\u201d attacks if Iran retaliated to US strikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Jordanian army said it intercepted 10 ballistic missiles fired from Iran, and did not confirm any injuries or hits. Three other missiles landed in remote areas, it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Missile and drone attacks were also reported in Kuwait, where the army said they were responding to Iranian hostilities, and AFP reporters in Bahrain heard alert sirens for airborne attacks ring out early on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iran\u2019s army said it launched drone attacks targeting US forces at an air base in Bahrain, a key Washington ally in the Gulf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Iraq\u2019s autonomous Kurdistan region, Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday that they struck US bases with missiles and drones, destroying a maintenance centre, warehouses and equipment, state-run IRNA reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The latest round of conflict began when Washington hit Iranian targets on Sunday, the first known strikes in several weeks, after which Tehran\u2019s forces targeted US troops in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, and projectiles struck two oil tankers in unclaimed attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More US strikes came on Tuesday, with Iranian state television reporting explosions in the country\u2019s south along the Hormuz strait and on an island in the Gulf, and that US forces hit an airport in the southern province of Kerman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Iranian Red Crescent said shrapnel from a US missile attack hit a home where a wedding celebration was taking place in the city of Kuhestak, killing four people, including a child, and wounding more than 50.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Later, Iranian state media reported that seven people died and eight were injured in an attack in the southwestern province of Khuzestan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IRNA also reported that \u201cfour projectiles hit areas within the counties of Chabahar and Konarak\u201d, without specifying whether there was any damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump said the \u201clarge and powerful\u201d strikes were \u201cin retaliation for the Iranians\u2019 failed attempt at adding sea mines to the Strait\u201d and \u201cthe Iranians shooting eight missiles, all successfully knocked down, at our Military Base in Jordan\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He later said on Truth Social that he was \u201cnot trying to force Iran to the bargaining table\u201d and asked: \u201cWhen are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier, Revolutionary Guards spokesman Hossein Mohebi warned that Washington \u201cwill regret its new attacks\u201d, saying that \u201csevere punishment awaits the aggressors\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And Ebrahim Zolfaghari, the spokesperson for Iran\u2019s Khatam-al Anbiya central military command, warned on Wednesday that \u201cany country that cooperates with the aggressive American army will face more severe, more widespread and destructive responses\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US military said Tuesday\u2019s strikes followed \u201cattempted attacks by (the Revolutionary Guards) against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members deployed to the region\u201d, the US Central Command (Centcom) wrote on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked if the US military had received any credible reports of civilian casualties in the attacks, Centcom spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins said \u201cthe US military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tanker attacks
After six months of war, the foes remain at an impasse, with Iran keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed and the United States persisting with a counter-blockade of Iranian ports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Washington said its forces attacked Iranian rocket launchers on the island of Larak on Sunday to prevent Tehran from planting mines in the strait\u2019s key shipping lanes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Middle East war began in late February with US-Israeli attacks on Iran that assassinated its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran collapsed after attacks on commercial ships in the Hormuz strait, through which one-fifth of world oil supplies flowed before the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Greek maritime risk management firm Marisks said on Tuesday that two crude tankers were hit by \u201cunknown projectiles\u201d late the previous day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency registered one of the incidents earlier, adding that no casualties or environmental effects had been reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the diplomatic deadlock, Iran\u2019s President Masoud Pezeshkian vowed on Tuesday to match any US move to return to a deal aimed at ending the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also warned that a return by the United States to \u201ca policy of pressure and threats could derail the path of diplomacy\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TEHRAN(National Times)- Iran pushed ahead with strikes targeting American interests around the Middle East on Wednesday after vowing \u201csevere\u201d consequences to a fresh wave of US attacks. The latest flare-up is part of a cycle of retaliation that followed US strikes on Iran, with fighting over the Hormuz strait expanding to Washington\u2019s Gulf allies, military […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n