US Launches Fresh Strikes on Iran Following Missile Attack on American Forces
The United States military announced on Wednesday that it had conducted a series of strikes against targets in Iran, in response to an attempted ballistic missile attack on American troops a day earlier. The US Central Command (Centcom) described the operation as a powerful response to what it called Iranian aggression.
According to Centcom, the strikes hit dozens of sites linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including military command centres, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defence posts, and maritime capabilities. The operation, which lasted about an hour, was carried out shortly after 20:00 Eastern Time on Wednesday.
Iranian state media reported that the strikes killed three people on Qeshm island, including a two-year-old child. Other locations in southern and western Iran were also hit. The reports cited local medical authorities confirming the deaths. The Iranian government has not yet issued an official statement on the casualties.
The latest escalation follows a period of relative calm, during which both sides had paused strikes amid reports of possible diplomatic talks. US President Donald Trump had described the discussions as friendly, though Tehran denied any negotiations were taking place. The truce was broken on Tuesday when Iran launched a missile attack on a US base in Jordan and targeted ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Centcom said all Iranian missiles were intercepted.
In response to Tuesday's attack, President Trump vowed to retaliate, stating, "We're going to be hitting them very hard." The US strikes were also co-ordinated with Saudi Arabia, which earlier this week joined US forces in targeting Iranian-backed proxies in Iraq. The joint US-Saudi strikes hit multiple sites in eastern Iraq, killing at least 20 members of the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), an Iraqi paramilitary group dominated by Iran-backed Shia militias.
The Iraqi presidency condemned the strikes on PMF bases, calling them a violation of Iraq's sovereignty. However, President Trump claimed the operations were co-ordinated with the Iraqi government.
Jordan's air defence systems successfully shot down five Iranian missiles aimed at the kingdom on Thursday, according to Jordanian armed forces. The IRGC had earlier said its Tuesday attacks were in response to "the acts of aggression of the American child-killing army" and that naval forces had struck three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz after they ignored warnings.
The conflict, which began in February with joint US-Israeli strikes, has now lasted five months with no clear end in sight. Diplomatic efforts, including a reported meeting between President Trump and Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, have not yet yielded a ceasefire.
