TEHRAN, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced early on Wednesday that it had completed a wave of strikes against Iranian military targets, including air defense sites, radar systems, naval facilities, mine-laying capabilities, and communications sites.
Meanwhile, Iranian media reported explosions in Hormozgan and Bushehr provinces, as well as on Qeshm Island and around the Strait of Hormuz.
According to US officials who spoke to Axios, the latest American strikes hit around 100 targets. The officials said the operation also included attacks on two Iranian state-owned oil tankers for the first time, as part of a “tanker-for-tanker” policy approved by President Donald Trump.
Iran responds
In response, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that it had launched an intense ballistic missile attack on hangars housing long-range drones at Prince Hassan Air Base in Jordan, saying that a number of pilots were killed. The IRGC also announced attacks on US bases in Erbil.
Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said offensive operations against US forces would continue “until they regret it,” warning that continued “American acts of aggression” in the region would be met with responses that were “more severe, broader in scope, and more destructive.”
An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said “the list of American atrocities against the Iranian people is now complete,” adding that more than 50 people were killed or injured a “brutal” attack on a residential home in Kuhestak-Sirik, where families had gathered for a wedding celebration.
Jordan’s Armed Forces, meanwhile, announced that they had intercepted and destroyed 10 ballistic missiles, while three others fell in remote areas. No injuries or fatalities were reported.
Kuwait also announced that its air defenses had responded to missile and drone attacks, while Bahrain said it had intercepted and destroyed Iranian drones targeting the kingdom.
On Tuesday evening, US Central Command launched attacks on southern Iran, with several explosions reported across the area.
Trump said the United States was striking Iran in response to Tehran’s launch of eight missiles targeting a US military base in Jordan on Monday, as well as an Iranian attempt to lay naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
Around three hours after the US attack, Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reported the start of a “decisive operation by the Iranian Armed Forces” in response to the American strikes. Iran’s Fars News Agency later confirmed the launch of missiles and drones from Iran.
Iranian state television, citing the IRGC, also reported that a US Marine base in Jordan had been attacked with ballistic missiles.
An Al Jazeera correspondent reported that missiles were intercepted over the city of Mafraq in eastern Jordan, while Jordanian state television announced that warning sirens had been activated across the country. Axios reported that Iran responded to the US strikes by launching ballistic missiles toward US bases in Jordan.
An IRGC spokesperson had earlier warned that “the United States will regret its new attacks,” saying the American strikes would lead to an even tighter closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s General Staff also threatened powerful strikes against the United States in response to the latest attacks, which hit areas in Sistan and Baluchestan and Hormozgan provinces in southern Iran.
Early Monday, the United States and Iran resumed exchanging fire after more than a month of relative calm. US forces carried out strikes on Iran’s Larak Island near the Strait of Hormuz, after which Tehran launched missile and drone attacks on US military sites in the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
