US strikes over 100 targets in second raid within two days; Iran fires ballistic missiles at US base in Jordan, claims drone attack on Bahrain; Trump threatens total destruction if Iran retaliates again

A file photo taken at the US Central Command public affairs office in July shows the carrier air wing of the USS George H.W. Bush. [AFP]
A file photo taken at the US Central Command public affairs office in July shows the carrier air wing of the USS George H.W. Bush. [AFP]

Military tensions in the Middle East are escalating sharply as the United States and Iran trade airstrikes and retaliatory attacks in rapid succession. Just two days after an initial US strike, American forces launched a major new assault on Iran, which responded immediately by firing ballistic missiles and drones at US military bases in the region.

President Donald Trump warned that any further Iranian retaliation would be met with a far more powerful response, while Iran vowed "harsh punishment for the aggressors." As the armed exchanges threaten civilian shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, fears are growing over disruptions to global oil supplies and the risk of a broader conflict.

According to CENTCOM, which oversees US military operations in the Middle East, American forces launched strikes Tuesday (local time) against military facilities of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps at around noon Eastern time.

The US said the strikes were a response to recent IRGC attempts to attack civilian vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz and US troops stationed in the Middle East.

CENTCOM announced it had "successfully completed a series of airstrikes against Iranian military targets," hitting IRGC air defense facilities, radar systems, maritime assets and facilities, mine-laying capabilities and communications infrastructure.

Axios, citing US officials, said the strikes targeted around 100 sites.

In a first, US forces also directly struck two Iranian government-owned oil tankers during the operation.

According to Axios, US forces hit two state-owned tankers anchored off the Iranian coast using missiles fired from drones, with the missiles striking the vessels' engine rooms.

A US official said the strikes were part of a new "tanker for tanker" policy approved by Trump — meaning that if Iran attacks civilian tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the US will retaliate by directly striking Iranian tankers.

The targeted Iranian tankers were anchored off the Iranian coast north of the US maritime blockade line, sources said. Axios noted it was the first time the US had struck Iranian tankers in retaliation for Iran's attacks on shipping — a departure from the methods previously used to deter Iran from violating the US maritime blockade.

Iran's state broadcaster IRIB reported explosions in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, on Qeshm Island and Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz, in Assaluyeh, and at a civilian airport in the southeastern city of Jiroft.

CENTCOM said on X that it had "successfully completed a series of airstrikes against Iranian military targets" Tuesday, striking sites including IRGC air defense and radar facilities, maritime assets, mine-laying capabilities and communications infrastructure. Axios, citing US officials, put the total number of targets at around 100.

Iran claimed that bombs struck a private home where a wedding was being held during the US airstrikes on southern Iran, causing mass civilian casualties.

Iran's Red Crescent said shrapnel from US missiles killed four people, including one child, and wounded more than 50 in Kuhestak in Hormozgan Province, according to AFP. Iran's state news agency IRNA also reported that missile strikes in the southern province of Khuzestan killed seven people and wounded eight.

Tuesday's large-scale US assault came two days after Sunday's strikes on two IRGC rocket-launcher sites used for mine-laying on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran had responded to those strikes by firing missiles at two US air bases in Jordan, and the US struck back again — drawing the two sides into a deepening cycle of armed conflict.

Iran moved to retaliate immediately after Tuesday's US airstrikes.

The IRGC said in a statement that it had "already begun the punishment that will bring bitter regret to the aggressors," claiming to have shot down a US MQ-9 drone. It added that the US strikes would only "strengthen the resolve of our fighters to consolidate security in the Strait of Hormuz and suppress foreign interventionist forces in the waterway."

The IRGC also claimed to have struck a US military base in Jordan with ballistic missiles, and Iranian media reported that a US base in Bahrain had come under a large-scale drone attack.

US officials cited by Axios said Iran fired about 25 ballistic missiles toward Jordan, but only about half reached Jordanian airspace. Of those, 10 were intercepted and three landed in Jordan without causing casualties.

The IRGC also claimed that several US troops were killed in the strikes, though the US has yet to confirm this.

Both sides declared their own attacks justified and threatened severe retaliation.

Trump said the US strikes on Iran were legitimate and warned that any Iranian retaliation would be met with a far stronger response. On Truth Social, he wrote: "The biggest attack is still waiting. If a third strike is carried out, Iran will be completely annihilated as a nation." He dismissed any prospect of negotiations, saying a deal with Iran "isn't worth the paper it's written on."

IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi said on X that the US would "regret its new attack" and that "harsh punishment awaits the aggressors."

A spokesperson for Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, which commands Iran's armed forces, warned Wednesday that "any country cooperating with the aggressive US military will face an even harsher, wider and more destructive response."

As the armed exchanges intensify and military tensions spike, civilian vessels have also come under threat in the Strait of Hormuz — the world's critical oil shipping chokepoint — including a ship owned by a South Korean shipping company.

The Financial Times, citing maritime security analysts, reported that two vessels were attacked Monday while transiting the Strait of Hormuz: the Senegal Prosperity, owned by South Korean shipper Sinokor, and the Saudi-owned tanker Sidr.

However, the vessel reported as "owned by Sinokor" was a ship sub-chartered by an affiliate of the company, and no Korean crew members were on board. It is not a vessel under South Korean government management.

Nations hostile to the West condemned the US and repeatedly called for a diplomatic resolution.

The latest US strikes came shortly after the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit — dominated by anti-Western states including China, Russia and Iran — adopted a joint declaration condemning the US attacks on Iran and calling for a diplomatic solution.

At the conclusion of the two-day summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, leaders of the 10 member states — including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin — criticized the US strikes on Iran, saying such actions "violate the principles and norms of international law and the UN Charter and pose a serious threat to world peace, security and stability."

The leaders also reaffirmed their support for Iran's sovereignty and territorial integrity, calling for the armed conflict to be resolved "exclusively through political and diplomatic means." They also expressed condolences for the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a joint US-Israeli airstrike in February.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who attended the SCO summit, said Iran would take corresponding steps if the US moved toward rejoining a ceasefire agreement, but warned that if Washington returned to "a policy of pressure and threats, the path of diplomacy could run aground," AFP reported.

As the US and Iran escalate their cycle of strikes and counter-strikes, with civilian vessels now also exposed to attack in the Strait of Hormuz, concerns are mounting that the conflict could extend beyond regional US military installations to disrupt international maritime traffic and global oil shipments.

International oil prices surged about 5 percent Tuesday as the US and Iran traded strikes, while all three major New York stock indexes closed lower.


mokiya@heraldcorp.com