The U.S. military announced a new wave of strikes against Iran early Thursday, as the brief detente between Washington and Tehran appeared to have been short-lived.
U.S. Central Command said the strikes began at 8 p.m. EDT Wednesday, ended at 10 p.m. and were “a powerful response to yesterday’s attempted Iranian attacks on U.S. forces based in the Middle East.”
CENTCOM said it struck dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets, including military command centers, maritime capabilities, missile and drone facilities and coastal surveillance and defense sites. The extent of the damage was not immediately clear.
The strikes followed a roughly four-day lull in fighting between the two countries to allow efforts to revive diplomacy.
The pause appeared to have ended early Wednesday local time when Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired ballistic missiles at the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base and what it said was CENTCOM’s headquarters in Jordan.
CENTCOM said all five missiles were intercepted. No casualties or damage were immediately reported.
The IRGC said the attack was in response to U.S. military actions against Iran, saying that unspecified “threats by U.S. officials and illegal interventions against our interests must stop.”
Separately, the United States and Saudi Arabia conducted joint strikes against Iran-backed proxies in Iraq, which they said had targeted Saudi energy infrastructure over the last few days.
The strikes were the first announced U.S. attacks specifically targeting Iran since the previous wave ended on Friday. They came after U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier Wednesday that the U.S. military would retaliate.
“We’re going to be hitting them very hard because it’s our turn,” he said in an Oval Office press conference.
“They know it’s coming. They’re asking us not to do it, but, you know, they tried shooting at [us] last night.”
He said Iran’s attack consisted of five ballistic missiles, all of which were intercepted.
“But they nevertheless took a shot, so it’s our turn, and we’ll see if we get there with an agreement at some point, but we’re going to hit them very hard.”
(UPI)
