Iran and US exchange strikes across Middle East as attacks hit bases and coastal sites

The United States and Iran traded strikes across the Middle East on Wednesday, in the largest armed confrontation between Tehran and Washington since July. US forces attacked Iran's southern coast, while Iran fired on US bases in the region.

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The United States warned of further attacks, and Iran said it had responded to what it described as US strikes on its territory and allied facilities. US Central Command said on Tuesday it had struck Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps air defenses, radar systems, maritime assets, mine-laying resources and communications installations.

Iranian media reported attacks on multiple targets near the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway where Tehran has threatened tankers that pass without its permission. The fighting also pushed Asian and European markets lower and drove oil prices back to levels last seen in July.

Iran said it struck alleged US targets in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Iraq. The Iranian military command said the US "mischief" in the region would be met with "heavier, more widespread and devastating" responses, and warned countries cooperating with US forces to accept the consequences.

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Iran also said its objective was to expel US forces from the network of bases Washington has maintained across the Middle East for decades. Jordan's armed forces said they confronted 13 missiles, intercepting 10 and reporting that three fell in remote areas.

The Revolutionary Guard said it had killed a large number of US military personnel in Jordan, but US officials told Reuters there were no casualties in initial assessments. No independent confirmation of the claimed deaths was provided in the source.

In Kuwait, Iran said it launched missiles and drones at the large Ali Al Salem Air Base and targeted the residence of a US commander. Kuwait's fire service said crews extinguished a blaze early Wednesday in a residential complex hit by an Iranian drone, causing damage but no casualties.

Qatar said it holds Iran fully legally responsible for the attacks and their consequences. Bahrain, which hosts the regional headquarters of the US Navy, said Iranian drones were intercepted and destroyed.

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The Revolutionary Guard also said its ground forces carried out combined missile and drone attacks on US bases in Erbil in northern Iraq, claiming several US troops were killed there; neither Iraq nor the United States confirmed that attack. Iran also said two oil tankers were hit by mines while being escorted through the Strait of Hormuz by US agents through a channel Tehran says it had closed.

Iran said at least 12 people were killed in the night of the US attacks, including five people, among them a four-year-old child, who were said to have died while celebrating a wedding in a house in Sirik on the coast of the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian media said up to 68 people were wounded at the site and showed images of injured children in hospital.

Reuters said it could not independently verify the incident, and US authorities did not comment on the allegation.

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