US launches powerful strikes on Iran after attack attempt

The United States has begun what its military called “powerful” strikes on Iran after Tehran said it targeted American forces in Jordan and ships in the Strait of Hormuz, marking a renewed escalation in a war that has stretched into its fifth month.

US Central Command said on X that the strikes were “a powerful response” to Tuesday’s firing by Iran on US bases in Jordan and at ships in the vital Gulf waterway. The action followed President Donald Trump’s warning hours earlier that Washington would retaliate.

“We’re going to be hitting them very hard because it’s our turn to hit them,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “They know it’s coming. They asked us not to do it.”

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had targeted a US air base and a command centre in Jordan “in response to the acts of aggression of the American child-killing army.” It also said Iranian naval forces struck three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz after they “ignored warnings” and sailed along what it described as an “unsafe and illegal route.”

The confrontation broke several days of relative calm, during which both sides had halted strikes as talks appeared to restart in pursuit of a diplomatic solution. Trump described the contacts as “very friendly negotiations,” though Tehran denied that any discussions were taking place.

The latest US strikes came a day after the conflict widened with the first publicly announced joint US-Saudi attacks, which targeted Iranian proxies in Iraq. Centcom said those strikes hit “multiple terrorist logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq in a strong response to over 30 IRGC-directed aerial drone attacks in the last 72 hours.”

Iraq condemned the US-Saudi strikes. The Iraqi presidency called the bombing of Popular Mobilisation Forces bases “an unacceptable attack and a blatant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.” The PMF, a paramilitary force dominated by Iran-backed Shia militias, said at least 20 of its members were killed. Al Jazeera reported that the group also said 32 others were wounded. Iranian media reported that four Iranians were killed in the joint attacks, according to Al Jazeera.

Trump told Fox News that the strikes had been “co-ordinated with the Iraqi government.”

The US and Israel launched military strikes on Iran in February, and Trump said at the time that the war would last only a few weeks. Five months later, there is no clear end in sight. Last Friday, Trump suspended an intensive US bombing campaign that had lasted 13 consecutive nights. Washington said that campaign targeted Iranian weapons and military sites, while scores of people were reported to have died.

The conflict has also drawn in regional rivals. Saudi Arabia, which sees itself as the leading Sunni Muslim power, and Iran, the largest Shia Muslim country, have been locked in a struggle for regional dominance for decades.