The United States has resumed direct strikes inside Iran after Tehran targeted American forces in Jordan, ending a brief lull in one of the Middle East’s most volatile flashpoints.
U.S. Central Command said Thursday that the strikes were a “powerful response” to what it called Iran’s attempted attacks on U.S. forces based in the region. CENTCOM did not immediately give a full target list or casualty assessment.
The announcement followed Iran’s missile attack on U.S. military positions in Jordan. Jordan’s army said it intercepted five Iranian missiles, while Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted American bases there. The Guardian reported that Donald Trump had warned shortly before the strikes that the U.S. would hit Iran “very hard.”
Iranian state and semi-official media reported strikes in multiple areas. The Hindu, citing AFP and Iranian outlets, said Iranian state television reported a U.S. strike in the Piranshahr border area, while Fars said a missile hit an uninhabited area and caused no casualties. The Guardian later reported Iranian media accounts of strikes around Abadan and near Qeshm Island, a Gulf island close to the Strait of Hormuz.
The renewed U.S. strikes mark a significant escalation after several days of relative calm. They came as the crisis spread across several fronts: the U.S. and Saudi Arabia struck Iran-backed militia sites in Iraq on Wednesday, while a British maritime security firm said drone strikes ignited fires on gas vessels at Egypt’s Damietta port. Egypt confirmed a fire at the port but did not identify a cause.
The Times of Israel, citing CENTCOM, also reported that the U.S. renewed airstrikes in Iran in response to attacks targeting American forces. The outlet noted that the strikes followed Trump’s threat of a response after Iran’s missile barrage broke the pause in fighting.
The latest exchange increases pressure on Washington, Tehran, and regional governments to prevent a broader conflict. The Guardian reported that Brent crude jumped as traders weighed the risk of attacks around shipping routes, including the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway remains central to global oil flows and has been a recurring source of confrontation throughout the crisis.
For now, the most important unanswered questions are the scale of the U.S. strikes, whether Iran will retaliate again, and whether diplomacy can restart after another direct military exchange.
Sources: The Guardian, The Hindu/AFP, Times of Israel.