ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fired missiles and drones at US bases in Jordan and Bahrain on Tuesday morning following US strikes on dozens of targets in southern Iran in response to the IRGC’s attacks on two supertankers in the strategic waterway.
The US retaliated with five hours of constant bombing of military targets in southern Iran on Tuesday morning local time. “During the five-hour mission, U.S. forces successfully struck military targets across Iran including Bushehr, Chah Bahar, Jask, Konarak, Abu Musa, and Bandar Abbas to further degrade Iran's ability to attack commercial shipping,” CENTCOM (US Central Command) said in a statement.
The US military said it employed precision munitions against "Iranian coastal defense systems, missile and drone sites, and maritime capabilities," adding that more than 50,000 American service members remain deployed across the Middle East.
The latest tit-for-tat escalations come amid renewed fighting between the United States and Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global energy shipping route which sees the transit of approximately one fifth of the world’s oil and gas exports, even as US President Donald Trump said a deal with Tehran was still possible.
In a statement, the IRGC claimed responsibility for attacking two United Arab Emirates supertankers on Monday night in the Strait for using routes unauthorized by Iran and allegedly ignoring the IRGC’s warnings.
"The national tankers Mombasa and Al Bahiyah were targeted by two Iranian cruise missiles while transiting the southern shipping lane of the Strait of Hormuz, within Omani territorial waters,” UAE ministry of defense confirmed on X early Tuesday, noting that the attack resulted in the death of one crew member and 12 injuries, as well as damage to both tankers.
In a separate statement issued after US strikes, the IRGC announced what it described as the "second wave of Operation Nasr-2," claiming it retaliated and struck "weapon support warehouses, a satellite communication center, and U.S. forces' residential buildings" at the Juffair base in Bahrain with missiles and drones. The IRGC also targeted Jordan and published a statement addressed to the people of Jordan to clarify that their enmity was not with them.
Speaking to reporters on Monday before the latest strikes, US President Donald Trump said military operations against Iran were "going very fast." He also indicated Washington intended to eliminate Tehran's ability to threaten shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
"We've demolished their military. We're hitting them very hard," Trump said.
"We are just going forward with attacking them tonight, we're taking out all of their capability for... the Hormuz Strait."
Trump also claimed, "I think in the end, we will end up just controlling the whole thing," accusing Iran of acting "very foolish" after abandoning what he described as a recently negotiated agreement.
The ongoing tensions come despite the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding signed between Iran and the US in mid-June, establishing a cessation of military operations across all fronts and ending maritime restrictions on both ends.
The two sides had committed to talks aimed at reaching a comprehensive settlement to the regional war within 60 days of signing, with the possibility of extension by mutual consent.
However, escalations in recent days have cast doubt on the fate of the agreement.
