US Unleashes “Heavy Wave” Of Strikes On Iran Following Missile Attack On American Troops

US Central Command (Centcom) confirmed it struck “dozens” of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) sites, describing the operation as retaliation for Iran’s missile fire on American bases in Jordan and on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz earlier in the week.

According to Iranian state media, the strikes killed three people on Qeshm island, among them a two-year-old child, while additional locations in the south and west of the country were also hit.

This latest round of violence follows a week in which the wider conflict expanded further, including the first publicly acknowledged joint US-Saudi strikes against Iranian-backed proxy forces in Iraq.

Back in February, when the US and Israel first launched their military campaign against Iran, President Donald Trump predicted the fighting would be over within weeks. Five months on, there is still no resolution in sight.

Citing an unnamed US official, Axios reported on Wednesday that Trump had met Saudi Deputy Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, who relayed Riyadh’s desire to see tensions de-escalate.

The current flare-up comes after several days of relative quiet between Washington and Tehran, during which both sides reportedly paused strikes while diplomatic talks resumed.

Trump described the discussions as “very friendly negotiations,” although Iranian officials denied any talks were taking place.

Once Iran struck a US base in Jordan on Tuesday, Trump promised a forceful response, telling reporters at the White House: “We’re going to be hitting them very hard because it’s our turn to hit them. They know it’s coming. They asked us not to do it.”

The new US operation began at 20:00 ET on Wednesday (01:00 BST Thursday) and lasted roughly an hour.

Related: Trump Says Iran Strikes Will Continue Until ‘I Say It’s Enough’

Centcom described it as a “powerful response to yesterday’s attempted Iranian attacks on US forces based in the Middle East,” adding that every Iranian missile fired in the earlier attack had been intercepted.

Centcom said the strikes targeted “military command centers, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defense sites, and maritime capabilities.”

Iran’s state-run Irib news agency reported that Qeshm and Abadan, both significant to the country’s oil industry, were among the islands struck.

Citing the Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, the Fars news agency reported: “A US attack on a residential home in the Chah Tangu neighbourhood of Qeshm killed three members of a family: the father, the mother, and their 2-year-old child.”

Separately, Jordan’s military said its air defences intercepted five Iranian missiles aimed at Jordanian territory on Thursday.

Tuesday’s IRGC statement said the group had targeted a US air base and command centre in Jordan “in response to the acts of aggression of the American child-killing army.”

The IRGC also claimed its naval units struck three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz after the vessels “ignored warnings” and travelled along what it called an “unsafe and illegal route” through the strategic waterway.

The preceding Friday saw Trump pause a 13-night bombing campaign that reportedly targeted Iranian weapons depots and military installations, with numerous casualties reported.

On Tuesday, Centcom said the joint US-Saudi operation struck “multiple terrorist logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq in a strong response to over 30 IRGC-directed aerial drone attacks in the last 72 hours.”

Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), a paramilitary network dominated by Iran-aligned Shia militias, reported that at least 20 of its fighters were killed in the US-Saudi strikes on its facilities.

Iraq’s presidency condemned the bombing of PMF positions, calling it “an unacceptable attack and a blatant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.”

Trump, however, told Fox News the strikes had been “co-ordinated with the Iraqi government.” The rivalry between Saudi Arabia, which positions itself as the region’s leading Sunni power and Iran, the largest Shia-majority nation, reflects a decades-long contest for dominance across the Middle East.