Iran has launched a retaliatory operation against the United States, firing missiles and drones from its territory after the US launched a wave of attacks on Iran with the escalation spreading across the region.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had launched a “regretful response to the aggressors” and claimed it targeted a US base in Jordan with ballistic missiles, while Iranian media reported a large-scale drone attack on a US base in Bahrain.
Jordan said its air defences intercepted 10 of 13 ballistic missiles that entered its airspace, with three missiles falling in remote areas away from population centres.
Kuwait, meanwhile, said its air defences were responding to hostile drone attacks following the Iranian attack.
The latest escalation came after US forces struck Iran for the second time in two days on Tuesday, targeting IRGC sites near the Strait of Hormuz.
US President Donald Trump had warned Iran that any retaliation would trigger a much more severe US response. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said Washington was carrying out “large and powerful” strikes on Iranian targets near the strait.
Trump said the US operation came in retaliation for what he described as Iran’s failed attempt to place sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz and its missile attack on a US military base in Jordan.
Iran’s Fars News Agency reported that the retaliatory operation had begun. The IRGC said it had launched what it called a “regretful response to the aggressors”.
The IRGC accused the US of carrying out “blind and desperate attacks” on several locations, including civilian areas. It said the strikes had tightened the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and strengthened the determination of Iranian fighters to confront foreign forces operating in the strategic waterway.
The IRGC said in a statement that it targeted a US base in Jordan with ballistic missiles.
The IRGC also said in a statement that it had “killed a large number of US forces” in the attack. There was no immediate US reaction to the claim.
Iranian media said the military targeted a US base in Bahrain with a large-scale drone attack. There was no official confirmation of the reported attack.
Sirens were activated in Jordan, according to state TV. Rocket interceptions were reported in Mafraq, with Al Jazeera Arabic reporting that rockets had been intercepted in the Jordanian city.
Jordan said three ballistic missiles fell in remote areas away from population centres. The Jordanian military said its air defences intercepted 10 of the 13 ballistic missiles that entered the kingdom’s airspace.
Kuwait’s army said its air defences were responding to hostile drone attacks following the Iranian attack.
The developments came amid a wider regional escalation following the US strikes on Iranian targets and Iran’s retaliatory operation.
The US launched new air strikes on Iranian targets on Tuesday, in a move that threatened to reignite the six-month-old conflict that had driven global energy prices higher and weighed heavily on President Donald Trump’s popularity at home.
US Central Command said US forces began striking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets in Iran at 12 p.m. ET (1600 GMT) on Tuesday.
“The strikes follow recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members deployed to the region,” US Central Command posted on X.
Iran’s state broadcaster said there had been reports of explosions on Iran’s Qeshm Island, on the northern side of the strait.
The state-linked news agency Nour News said there had been reports of explosions in the port city of Bandar Abbas and in Chabahar, a port on the southern coast. The state news agency IRNA also reported the sound of explosions in Jask and Sirik, while state media said US forces attacked a civilian airport in Jiroft in southern Iran.
Trump said on his social media channel that if Iran retaliated for the attack, “they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level.”
Fars News Agency cited an IRGC spokesperson as saying the US “will regret its new attacks”.
The US strikes followed a weekend exchange of fire — the first since July — and came after two tankers were hit on Monday while leaving the Strait of Hormuz, the global oil supply waterway that Iran had effectively closed to shipping.
Brent crude futures, already up 2% on the day, jumped almost 2% more after reports of the strikes.
Tehran remained defiant, warning that it would prevent oil from being exported from the Gulf, despite Trump’s threat to hit Iran “hard” in response to the renewed Iranian strikes. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also warned that Washington was about to impose new sanctions.
Trump has repeatedly vowed during the conflict to launch new attacks on Iran but has not always followed through. Bessent said last week that Washington would significantly escalate economic sanctions against countries that do business with Iran, although the US has not revealed specifics about that plan.
