The United States launched new airstrikes against Iran early on Thursday, and Tehran responded by targeting Gulf Arab countries, after US President Donald Trump declared that a ceasefire between the nations was “over”.
Back-and-forth attacks have repeatedly threatened the ceasefire, but Thursday’s appeared bigger all around.
Sirens sounded at least three times in Bahrain. Missiles targeted Kuwait and Qatar. Sirens sounded on Thursday afternoon in Jordan as well, where the US has stationed troops and aircraft.
The strikes came hours after Trump said recent Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz signaled the end of a fragile ceasefire and threatened to escalate the conflict if they didn’t stop. That raised concerns that the region could tip back into a war.
There was no immediate word of damage in the Gulf Arab countries, but Kuwait’s military said it was actively intercepting incoming drones and missiles.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it hit military targets along Iran’s coastline, including air defence systems, coastal surveillance assets, missile and drone storage sites, naval capabilities, and military logistics infrastructure.
The strikes were intended to “further degrade” Iran’s ability “to threaten freedom of navigation” in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas passed before the war began.
Iranian state media reported explosions in several locations, including Bushehr, home to Iran’s nuclear power plant complex, and the southern port cities of Chabahar, Konarak, Bandar Abbas and Sirik.
“US forces remain vigilant, lethal, and prepared to execute operations directed by the commander in chief,” a CENTCOM statement said.
More than 20 US Navy warships were patrolling waters across the Middle East on Wednesday, CENTCOM added.
Trump posted several videos on his social media site of what he said were explosions in Iran and issued another warning to the Islamic Republic after leaving a Nato summit in Turkey.
Aboard Air Force One, the president told reporters he had received a call from Iranian leadership and claimed they wanted to make a deal “so badly”.
Earlier on Wednesday, he had described Iran as being “evil, sick people”, and said he thought the Memorandum of Understanding, established between the two countries last month, was “over”.
“To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them anymore,” Trump said.
The US president also renewed his past threats to hit Iran’s civilian infrastructure, including electric plants and desalination plants, and to seize the oil-production hub of Kharg Island.
The US first launched strikes on Iran after three tankers were hit close to the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, causing Iranian forces to retaliate by targeting American military sites in the Persian Gulf.
Iran has asserted that the interim ceasefire deal gives it the right to manage traffic through the strait, with Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a key negotiator in peace talks, issuing a threat on social media.
“America still hasn’t learned that bullying and breaking promises are no longer cost-free. Let me put it plainly: if you strike, you’ll get hit,” he wrote.
“Don’t flail around pointlessly, or you’ll sink even deeper: the Strait of Hormuz will only open with ‘Iranian arrangements’, not American threats.”
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