U.S. launches heavy strikes on Iran after missile attack on Jordan base

Iranian state media says strikes killed three, including child, on Qeshm island

U.S. forces launched a heavy wave of strikes targeting dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sites inside Iran late Wednesday, the U.S. military said, in retaliation for Iran’s attempted ballistic missile attack on American forces in Jordan.

The operation began at 8 p.m. ET and lasted about an hour, striking military command centers, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defense sites, and maritime capabilities, U.S. Central Command said. Centcom called it “a powerful response to yesterday’s attempted Iranian attacks on US forces based in the Middle East.” A U.S. official told The Wall Street Journal the assault was larger in scope than recent U.S. operations but did not amount to a return to major combat.

The strikes follow a 13-night U.S. bombing campaign that President Trump suspended last Friday, which the U.S. said had targeted Iranian weapons and military sites. Iran’s Tuesday attack shattered a brief ceasefire that had paused hostilities since then.

On Tuesday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement that it had targeted a U.S. air base and command center in Jordan “in response to the acts of aggression of the American child-killing army.” It also said naval forces had struck three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz after they “ignored warnings” and sailed along what it described as an “unsafe and illegal route.” All of Iran’s missiles fired at Jordan were intercepted, the U.S. said, but the attack prompted an immediate threat of retaliation. “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,” Trump told reporters Wednesday. Asked if he would always respond, he added, “Will I always hit back? Pretty much.”

Iranian state media reported that three members of a family — a father, mother, and their two-year-old child — were killed in a strike on a residential home in the Chah Tangu neighborhood of Qeshm island. Fars news agency cited the Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences. A resident of the island told BBC Persian that there had been loud bangs since early morning and the electricity had cut out repeatedly. “Our internet situation has been a mess. The electricity has been cutting out several times since this morning,” he said. “There have been loud bangs since 03:40 this morning. We are helpless.”

Separately, U.S. and Saudi aircraft launched joint strikes on Iran-backed militias in Iraq early Wednesday, hitting logistics and weapons sites in what Centcom called “a strong response to over 30 IRGC-directed aerial drone attacks in the last 72 hours.” Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces, dominated by Iran-backed Shia militias, said at least 20 of its members were killed. The Iraqi presidency condemned the strikes as “an unacceptable attack and a blatant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.”

The Egyptian government said a fire at a port on Wednesday was caused by a drone attack — the first direct strike on Egyptian territory since the U.S.-Iran war began in February. Egypt is a U.S. ally.

Before Tuesday’s escalation, both sides had halted strikes for several days as talks apparently resumed. Trump called them “very friendly negotiations,” though Tehran denied any discussions were occurring. Axios reported that Saudi defense minister Prince Khalid bin Salman told Trump after the strikes that the kingdom wanted to de-escalate tensions. The White House did not comment. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in Washington, where they reviewed three strategies: diplomacy, intensifying economic pressure, or renewed military action, according to a senior Israeli official.

The conflict, now in its sixth month, has seen more than 600 U.S. service members injured, according to the U.S. military, and has drawn in multiple countries across the Middle East, including attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and air strikes on Iraqi soil. Jordan’s armed forces said its air defense systems shot down five Iranian missiles targeting the kingdom’s territory on Thursday.