Iran vows ‘severe’ retaliation as attacks target US interests across Middle East

Iran intensified its attacks on US interests across the Middle East on Wednesday, warning Washington of “severe” consequences in response to American strikes, including one that the Iranian Red Crescent said killed four people at a wedding celebration.

The latest escalation is part of a widening cycle of retaliation that began after US strikes on Iran and has since spread to Washington’s Gulf allies, military bases and commercial shipping around the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian media reported that Tehran launched ballistic missiles at two US bases in Jordan. Washington did not immediately comment, although President Donald Trump had earlier warned Iran of “much harder and higher” attacks if it retaliated.

Jordan’s military said it intercepted 10 ballistic missiles launched from Iran, while three others landed in remote areas. It did not report any casualties or damage.

Missile and drone attacks were also reported in Kuwait, with the country’s military saying it was responding to Iranian hostilities. In Bahrain, AFP reporters heard air-raid sirens early Wednesday.

Iran’s military said it had launched drones targeting US forces at an air base in Bahrain, a key American ally in the Gulf.

In Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had struck US bases with missiles and drones, destroying a maintenance centre, warehouses and military equipment, state-run IRNA reported.

The latest phase of fighting began Sunday, when Washington launched strikes against Iranian targets for the first time in several weeks. Iran subsequently targeted US troops in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, while two oil tankers were struck in separate attacks whose perpetrators remained unidentified.

Further US strikes followed on Tuesday. Iranian state television reported explosions in southern Iran along the Strait of Hormuz and on a Gulf island, while US forces also struck an airport in Kerman province.

The Iranian Red Crescent said shrapnel from a US missile struck a house in Kuhestak where a wedding celebration was underway, killing four people, including a child, and injuring more than 50.

IRNA also reported that four projectiles struck areas in the counties of Chabahar and Konarak, without providing details of damage or casualties.

Trump said the “large and powerful” US strikes were carried out in retaliation for an alleged Iranian attempt to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz and for Iran firing eight missiles at a US military base in Jordan, all of which he said were intercepted.

He later said on Truth Social that he was “not trying to force Iran to the bargaining table” and asked when “the Iranian people” would rise up and fight.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards spokesman Hossein Mohebi warned on X that Washington “will regret its new attacks,” saying “severe punishment awaits the aggressors.”

Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam-al Anbiya central military command, issued a broader warning, saying any country cooperating with the US military would face “more severe, more widespread and destructive responses.”

The US military said Tuesday’s strikes came after what it described as attempted attacks by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and on American troops deployed across the region.

US Central Command spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins said the US military does not target civilians, accusing Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of doing otherwise.

Tanker attacks deepen Strait of Hormuz crisis

After six months of war, the United States and Iran remain locked in a standoff, with Tehran maintaining the closure of the Strait of Hormuz while Washington continues a counter-blockade of Iranian ports.

The US said its forces struck Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island on Sunday in an effort to prevent Tehran from laying mines in key shipping lanes.

The broader Middle East conflict began in late February with US-Israeli attacks on Iran that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A fragile ceasefire subsequently collapsed following attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial global shipping route through which around one-fifth of the world’s oil supplies flowed before the war.

Greek maritime risk management firm Marisks said Tuesday that two crude tankers had been hit by “unknown projectiles” late Monday. The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency confirmed one of the incidents and said there were no reported casualties or environmental damage.

Despite the escalating military confrontation, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tuesday that Tehran would respond to any US move to revive negotiations aimed at ending the conflict.

He also warned that a renewed US policy of “pressure and threats” could derail diplomatic efforts.