US launches fresh strikes on Iran; Tehran retaliates

The United States has launched fresh strikes on “multiple targets” in Iran on President Donald Trump’s orders, with Tehran responding with strikes on US bases in Bahrain and Kuwait and two vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

The US military said the strikes late on Wednesday were “in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression”, as Iranian state media reported explosions on Qeshm Island and in the cities of Bandar Abbas and Sirik along the Strait of Hormuz.

Blasts also hit the southern city of Kargan, wounding at least two people.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) accused the US of “repeated violations” of their April ceasefire, and said the Strait of Hormuz was “closed until further notice”.

It said all traffic in the vital waterway, including oil tankers and commercial vessels, would be affected, and firmly rejected the US’s previous claims that it had helped ships pass through the strait.

The IRGC subsequently added that “two oil tankers attempting to illegally pass through the strait were hit”. It also claimed drone strikes on Bahrain’s Sheikh Isa Air Base and Kuwait’s Ali Al Salem Air Base and the Ahmad Al-Jaber Air Bases.

The escalation comes a day after the US and Iran exchanged tit-for-tat strikes over the downing of a US Apache helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz. The two pilots were later rescued in the waterway.

Trump told reporters at the White House that the US would hit Iran “very hard”.

“We’ll see what happens with the deal. We were really close to a deal. But they keep tapping us along. They keep playing us for suckers,” he told reporters at the White House.

Earlier, he wrote on in a post on his Truth Social that Iran had taken too long to negotiate a peace deal and “now they will have to pay the price”.

In a subsequent interview with Fox News, he also threatened to strike power plants and bridges in Iran if it was unwilling to sign an agreement.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian slammed Trump’s threats in a post on X.

“Critical infrastructures are the lifeblood of the people. Threats to target them – from transportation networks to the electricity and water industries – are not a show of strength but a sign of desperation in the face of a nation’s will,” he wrote.

“Iran, relying on the knowledge and capabilities of its specialists, national unity, and solidarity, will stand firm against any pressure or threat,” he added.

The escalation comes days after Israel and Iran traded fire in their most serious clash since the April ceasefire, which ended weeks of devastating US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Iranian retaliatory attacks across the Gulf.

Progress toward a peace deal remains slow, however.

The two sides are engaged in indirect talks aimed at securing an interim agreement that would halt hostilities while deferring Iran’s nuclear programme to future negotiations.

But sticking points remain, with Iran demanding the release of frozen assets and relief from sanctions. Complicating matters further is Israel’s intensifying campaign in Lebanon against Iranian-backed Hezbollah.

Iran maintains that any peace deal with Washington must include an end to fighting in Lebanon, while Israel insists its campaign there is a separate conflict.