The US has carried out another ‘heavy wave of strikes’ on Iran in response to attacks on its bases in the Middle East.
US Central Command (Centcom) said the ‘powerful’ two-hour bombing raid hit ‘dozens’ of military command centres,missile and drone facilities,and surveillance and defence sites.
The new strikes came hours after President Donald Trump vowed to strike back ‘very hard’ after it targeted a US base in Jordan.
Speaking yesterday,he vowed to ‘beat the f***ing s**t’ out of Iran for firing on American troops days after he halted air strikes.
Iran’s official IRNA news agency said three people were killed and two were wounded in a strike on the island of Qeshm,which lies just off the Iranian mainland in the Strait of Hormuz.
The latest barrage came after the U.S. partnered with Saudi Arabia to strike Iran-backed militias in neighboring Iraq,killing at least 20 fighters and six Iranian advisers on Wednesday.
Smoke rises following explosion at an unknown location,during what US Central Command (Centcom) says are strikes on Iran (Picture: Centcom via Reuters)
The new strikes came hours after President Donald Trump vowed to strike back ‘very hard’ after it targeted a US base in Jordan (Picture: EPA)The flare-ups on multiple fronts after several days of relative calm raised the risk of a return to all-out war.It also underscored the difficulty of winding down a five-month conflict that has jolted the world economy and is unpopular among Americans.The fighting was likely to add to concerns that the US is further drawing down already diminished stockpiles of sophisticated munitions needed to defend its bases and allies.Earlier on Wednesday,US and Saudi forces launched strikes against Iran-aligned groups in eastern Iraq,in retaliation for drone attacks on Saudi oil targets launched from Iraq.The joint attack marked the first time Riyadh has publicly joined strikes alongside Washington.In Egypt,a drone hit a US-owned gas storage tanker at Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Damietta,British maritime security firm Ambrey said in an initial assessment on Wednesday.
A plume of smoke rises after reported strikes in Qeshm,Iran (Picture: Reuters)A statement from Egypt’s Petroleum Ministry confirmed a fire at the port but made no mention of a drone attack. It was not immediately clear who was responsible.Egypt,a close US ally and regional mediator,is one of the only countries in the Middle East to have been spared direct military action during the war.A strike by Iran or its allies,if confirmed,would mark a significant widening of the conflict.Asked during an Oval Office event if Iran was responsible for the strikes on the natural gas vessels,Trump responded: ‘It’s a little more of the same.’He added: ‘In the meantime,we’re going to be hitting them very hard because it’s our turn to hit them.’Oil prices shot up on Wednesday in one of the sharpest spikes of the five-month war.Brent crude futures rose more than 8% to push the benchmark well above $90 a barrel,reversing much of a plunge earlier this week when Trump had unexpectedly halted U.S. strikes.On Thursday prices retreated slightly.Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at .For more stories like this,check our news page.
