The United States military says it has launched another wave of strikes on Iran, while Tehran says it retaliated with missile and drone attacks against US military assets in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.
US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees US military operations in the Middle East, said it concluded an evening wave of strikes against Iran at 9pm ET on Wednesday (01:00 GMT on Thursday), targeting “Iranian command centres, air defence sites, missile and drone capabilities, and coastal surveillance facilities” in an effort to reduce Iran’s ability to disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
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CENTCOM said the 90-minute operation targeted the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, a key Iranian naval hub overlooking the Strait of Hormuz, as well as coastal defence and cruise missile sites on Greater Tunb island, one of three islands near the entrance to the waterway.
Iranian air defences were activated over the capital, Tehran, as state media reported attacks across much of the country. Explosions were reported in Bandar Abbas and on nearby Qeshm island in the south, as well as in the southeastern coastal towns of Sirik, Chabahar and Konarak. Iranian media also reported attacks further inland in Rask, Khondab, Khorramabad and Semnan.
Iranian authorities said there were no casualties in Pakdasht or at the Parchin military complex near Tehran.
In the northern Iranian city of Semnan, the IRIB, citing a senior security official, said there were no deaths or injuries following an attack.
Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar Atas said this was the second reported US attack on northern Iran within a week.
“The main building of a civilian airport in Semnan was attacked by the Americans,” he said. “There has been minor damage at the airport. Also, in the same city, a storage facility was hit.”
In southwestern Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it intercepted and shot down a US MQ-9 drone over Andimeshk in Khuzestan province.
Iran’s Ministry of Health has said at least 35 people have been killed and more than 300 injured since the latest round of fighting began last week.
Iran claims attacks on US bases
Iran says it carried out retaliatory missile and drone attacks against facilities used by the US military in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan, with the army saying it targeted US radar and air defence systems in Kuwait and Bahrain.
In a statement carried by state media, it said missiles struck Patriot missile batteries and fuel tanks used by US forces at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait.
Kuwait said it intercepted four cruise missiles and 21 drones launched from Iran from Wednesday to early Thursday.
The Iranian army said drones targeted communications equipment, Super Hawk radar systems and Patriot air defence installations used by US forces at Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain.
The Iranian military also claimed missile and drone attacks on Jordan’s al-Azraq Air Base.
In a statement addressed to the Jordanian people, the IRGC said it had “targeted and destroyed the American fighter jet storage ramp and the new American command and control centre in West Asia in a very large base in Al-Azraq, Jordan, with Khyber-Shakan ballistic missiles”.
The statement came after Jordan’s military said it intercepted eight Iranian missiles earlier on Wednesday.
The latest escalation comes less than a month after Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding extending an April ceasefire and outlining plans for negotiations aimed at ending the war, which began on February 28 with Israeli and US strikes on Iran. The US and Iran have since accused the other of violating the agreement.
Trump raises prospect of wider strikes
Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan, reporting from Washington, DC, said US President Donald Trump has increasingly signalled a willingness to broaden the scope of US military operations.
“The US president has said several times this week that he is willing to expand US military action against Iran, not just targeting military facilities – including storage depots, missile launch sites and vessels that are part of the Iranian navy – but he has also raised the spectre of targeting what could be considered civilian targets, such as power plants, bridges and other parts of Iranian infrastructure,” she said.
“That is legally very questionable and has brought criticism against the Trump administration before, earlier in this war.”
Meanwhile, amid the US blockade on Iranian ports and Tehran’s blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, CENTCOM also said US forces disabled an oil tanker attempting to sail towards an Iranian port in the Strait of Hormuz by firing Hellfire missiles.
“Forces observed Curacao-flagged M/T Belma transiting international waters toward Kharg Island. The commercial vessel ignored multiple warnings as it attempted to violate the US blockade. A US aircraft disabled the vessel after firing Hellfire missiles into the ship’s smokestack. The ship is no longer transiting to Iran,” CENTCOM said.
“During the first 24 hours of enforcement, CENTCOM has redirected two compliant commercial vessels and disabled one non-compliant vessel,” it added.