US military carries out ‘heavy wave’ of retaliatory strikes on Iran for attack on bases
As fighting intensified in the Middle East war after a nearly week-long pause, the US military completed a “heavy wave of strikes” against Iran on Thursday in retaliation for Tehran’s targeting of American bases in Jordan. The reignited hostilities appear to have dashed hopes of a quick return to negotiations between the foes.
After Iran launched its first regional strike in days, missiles at Jordan, US President Donald Trump had promised to hit Iran “hard.” American forces “successfully completed a heavy wave of strikes against Iran”, and struck dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard targets including military command centres, US Central Command (Centocom) said.
“The strikes aimed to further diminish threats posed by Iran and its proxies to American forces, commercial shipping, and neighboring Gulf countries,” it said.
The Iranian state news agency IRNA reported that Qeshm island in the Gulf and several cities in the southwestern Khuzestan province were hit. Areas around the cities of Abadan, Shadegan, Arvandkenar and Ahvaz — all in Khuzestan — were struck, the agency said, citing provincial authorities.
The Fars news agency reported on Thursday that three people, including a two-year-old child, were killed in the attack on Qeshm island. “A US attack on a residential home in the Chah Tangu neighbourhood of Qeshm killed three members of a family: the father, the mother, and their 2-year-old child,” Fars reported citing the Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, adding that two other children were injured.
Saudi Arabia and the United States announced strikes on militant bases in Iraq on Wednesday, while US ally Israel accused Hezbollah of breaking the truce. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, has reported two days of drone attacks on crude facilities that it blames on Iran-aligned Iraqi armed groups. After Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) stated that it had targeted US bases there, the Jordanian army announced on Thursday that it had intercepted five Iranian missiles. “As long as the threats against the Islamic Republic of Iran continue … the resistance will continue,” the IRGC said.
Another front was Israel’s claim that Hezbollah had used a drone overnight to attack an Israeli car in Lebanon, which the military characterized as “a blatant violation of the ceasefire.” In the initial weeks of the war against Iran, Israel fought alongside the United States against Hezbollah in Lebanon. However, it has not yet joined the latest round of strikes against the Islamic republic.
