U.S. Central Command announced new strikes on Iran in response to Iranian forces targeting U.S. military assets in the Middle East, after a day in which fighting reignited across the region.
Central Command, which directs the U.S. military in the region, said early Thursday local time that it had completed a “heavy wave” of strikes on Iran, targeting military command centers, missile and drone facilities and coastal surveillance sites, among other targets.
“The strikes aimed to further diminish threats posed by Iran and its proxies to American forces, commercial shipping, and neighboring Gulf countries,” it said on social media.
On Wednesday, American and Saudi fighter jets had attacked Iran-allied militias in Iraq, Iran fired missiles at bases in Jordan used by U.S. forces and an American-owned tanker in an Egyptian port was set on fire in an apparent drone strike.
President Trump appeared to hint at the U.S. military’s predawn barrage when he vowed on Wednesday that the United States would strike Iran in response to the attempted attacks on U.S. forces.
“We’re going to be hitting them very hard,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “Because it’s our turn to hit them.”
The exchange of attacks ended a pause in direct fighting between the United States and Iran. Since a cease-fire between those countries collapsed earlier this month, Iran-linked groups across the region have embroiled forces in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan in the war that until recently had been contained to countries along the Persian Gulf.
The United States accused the Iranian military on Wednesday of directing its allies in Iraq to attack “U.S. forces and Saudi energy infrastructure.” The Iranian foreign ministry condemned the U.S.-Saudi strikes as an attempt to broaden the conflict.
Egypt was also struck for the first time. Two ships, including a U.S.-owned gas storage tanker, caught fire after an explosion at a shipping hub, according to Kpler, a maritime tracking firm. A second maritime tracking company, Ambrey, reported that a drone attack had caused the blast.
At the Oval Office news conference on Wednesday, Mr. Trump said he had been briefed on the explosion in Egypt and implied that Iran was responsible without offering details. He said the incident was “more of the same” and issued his promise to hit Iran “very hard.”
The escalation on Wednesday began with Saudi Arabia’s joint attack with the United States on Iran-allied militias in Iraq. Since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began in late February, the kingdom has avoided becoming a direct combatant, though it has launched some secret retaliatory strikes on Iran, according to senior U.S. officials.
Also on Wednesday, the Jordanian military said it had shot down five missiles that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps claimed were fired in retaliation for American aggression.
The U.S. military said that the strikes in Iraq were in response to more than 30 drone attacks by Iranian proxy groups this week. A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters, said the strikes killed about 20 Iranian military and technical advisers. An umbrella group for the militias confirmed at least that many fighters had been killed, which the Iraqi prime minister called “an unacceptable aggression.”
Here’s what else we’re covering.
Iraqi militias: The Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of Shiite militias that banded together in 2014 to fight the Islamic State group in Iraq, said at least 20 of its fighters had been killed in the U.S.-Saudi strikes. It has come under the authority of the national security forces in recent years, but some militias still operate with a large degree of Independence.
Oil prices jump: The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, and West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, rose sharply on Wednesday after the attacks.
Lebanon: The Israeli military said Wednesday that Hezbollah had launched an explosive drone at one of its vehicles in southern Lebanon. A Hezbollah spokesman said the group did not claim responsibility for an operation in the ridge area.
- Credits: The New York Times
- Authors: Max Bearak, Farnaz Fassihi and Pranav Baskar
- Image: Samuel Granados
