NEWS UPDATE
Iran attacked US military targets in the Middle East on Monday in retaliation for the first American strikes on its territory in a month, in a fresh flare-up of the war that has engulfed the region.
Tehran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said they retaliated to Sunday’s attack by striking two US military air bases with ballistic missiles in Washington-allied Jordan, causing “heavy damage”.
Jordan’s army said it had intercepted eight missiles, without stating their origin.
Tehran also said it targeted US military personnel at an air base in the United Arab Emirates and shot down a US drone over the Strait of Hormuz.
The flurry of attacks came after the United States said Sunday it had attacked Iranian rocket launchers on a small island in the strategic shipping lane.
Washington said its attacks were aimed at preventing Iran from placing more sea mines in the strait, days after it announced it had completed clearing explosives from the waterway.
“US forces took limited, precise action against IRGC minelaying forces posing an imminent threat in the Strait of Hormuz,” the US Central Command wrote on X.
The Guards said the US strikes resulted in “casualties” and that their subsequent attack on Jordan was “in response to the US-Zionist aerial aggression”.
We are not seeking war, but we will deliver a decisive response to the aggressors,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a statement quoted by state TV.
Pezeshkian was speaking before travelling to Kyrgyzstan for the summit of a bloc that seeks to be a counterinfluence to the West, along with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping.
The exchange of fire between the United States and Iran came shortly after their war hit the six-month mark, and at a time when hostilities had been subsiding.
In recent weeks, the administration of US President Donald Trump has prioritised “economic warfare” over military strikes on Iran.
Tehran has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic sea lane through which one-fifth of the world’s oil passed before the United States and Israel triggered hostilities with strikes on Iran on February 28.
“Last week, CENTCOM completed clearing sea mines from the strait’s international shipping routes,” said Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for US Central Command.
“US forces are monitoring the area closely and remain prepared to protect the free flow of commerce through this essential waterway,” he said.