Iran launched missile and drone attacks on four US allies in the Gulf overnight after American forces struck about 100 targets in the Islamic republic.
US Central Command said its strikes hit Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps air defences, radar systems, maritime assets, mine-laying equipment and communications sites.
The campaign followed attempted IRGC attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, Centcom said. US drones also fired missiles at two Iranian government ships under a new “tanker for tanker” policy, Axios reported, quoting US officials.
Iran said the US strikes killed civilians. The Red Crescent said five people were killed and 50 wounded when a wedding near Sirik, a coastal town close to the Strait of Hormuz, was hit. Mehr news agency reported that a four-year-old child was among those killed, while the official Irna news agency put the number of wounded at 68.
The US said it does not target civilians. Seven people were also reported killed in American strikes on three sites in Khuzestan province, state media said. Four of the dead were IRGC members and three were members of the Basij militia.
Iran vowed to retaliate. The IRGC said “severe punishment awaits the aggressors”, while the joint military command warned countries supporting the US campaign would face “heavier, more widespread and devastating responses”.
Iranian forces then launched attacks across the region. Bahrain said its air defences intercepted and destroyed Iranian drones. Jordan said 13 ballistic missiles entered its airspace, with 10 intercepted and three falling in remote areas. Kuwait also reported confronting Iranian drones.
The official Kuwaiti news agency, Kuna, said firefighters brought under control a blaze that broke out early Wednesday at a residential complex in the capital after it was attacked by a “hostile Iranian drone”.
Attacks on Hormuz shipping
In northern Iraq, the IRGC said it had carried out combined missile and drone attacks on US bases near Erbil and killed several American personnel. Neither the US nor Iraqi authorities immediately confirmed the claim.
Iran also said it had attacked Jordan. Initial assessments showed no American casualties in the kingdom.
Elsewhere, state-owned Saudi shipping company Bahri said on Wednesday that two Filipino crew members were killed in attack on the Sidr. The very large crude carrier (VLCC) had come under fire in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday in an attack blamed on Iran.
The new round of fighting, which began overnight from Sunday into Monday, is the most intense in months between Washington and Tehran.
The latest strikes sent oil prices to a five-week high and pushed the US 10-year Treasury yield to its highest level in almost three years, hitting Asian shares and adding to a global bond-market sell-off.
They came hours after Iranian Presisent Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran would reciprocate immediately if Washington returns to its commitments under a June 17 framework for peace talks. US President Donald Trump had said there was scope for negotiations as he vowed to attack Iran. “We’re going to hit them hard,” he said.
Iran has been gripped by an economic crisis, with the government struggling to pay wages and supply enough fuel for motorists in the face of US sanctions and a naval blockade. Its judiciary chief, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, on Monday threatened a tougher crackdown on any new anti-government protests.
Anger over the collapsing rial, high prices and the cost of living prompted deadly demonstrations in December and January.
