The United States launched a new series of strikes against Iranian military targets, hitting sites in and around Tehran as well as Semnan province — a region that houses Iran’s ballistic missile manufacturing facilities and its space program.
In response, Iran claimed it fired missiles and drones at American military assets located in Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain, while also renewing threats directed at the Strait of Hormuz.
Early Thursday morning, US Central Command, known as CENTCOM, announced that American forces deployed precision weapons to strike a range of targets, including command centers, air defense systems, missile installations, drone facilities, and coastal surveillance sites in Bandar Abbas. The military stated the goal of the operation was to diminish Iran’s capacity to threaten commercial vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Officials also noted that an earlier round of strikes — lasting roughly 90 minutes — had targeted coastal defense infrastructure and cruise missile sites on Tunb Island.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, or IRGC, claimed responsibility for launching ballistic missiles at a US air base in Jordan, saying it was a direct response to what they characterized as an American strike near a children’s cancer hospital inside Iran. The IRGC also said it conducted drone attacks against US bases and facilities in both Kuwait and Bahrain. Iranian state television reported that the military struck radar systems, a Patriot air defense battery, and fuel storage areas at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, as well as US military facilities at Isa Air Base in Bahrain. None of those claims have been independently confirmed. Jordan’s military, however, did confirm that it intercepted eight Iranian missiles that had been fired toward the country.
Separately, a spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya military headquarters declared that Tehran considers any US interference in the Strait of Hormuz a “red line.” Responding to President Donald Trump’s warning that the US would consider striking civilian infrastructure if Iran refuses to agree to a ceasefire, the spokesperson stated, “If the recent threats he made are carried out, including attacking Iran’s infrastructure, all infrastructure in the region will be destroyed by the powerful attacks of Iranian forces.”
On Wednesday evening, President Donald Trump told attendees at a security conference in Pennsylvania that “The Iranians will be defeated soon.” He also blamed former President Barack Obama for the current conflict, accusing him of “turning his back on Israel and turning to Iran — that’s why we’re in this situation today.”
