Iran launches missile and drone strikes on US bases as Middle East war widens

Iran carried out ballistic missile and drone attacks on multiple US military sites and interests in the Middle East on Wednesday, state and regional sources reported, marking a significant escalation in a six-month conflict that has disrupted the Strait of Hormuz and drawn Gulf allies into the fighting.

What happened

Iranian media said Tehran launched ballistic missile attacks on two US bases in Jordan. The Jordanian army said it intercepted 10 ballistic missiles fired from Iran and did not confirm any injuries or hits, adding that three other missiles landed in remote areas.

State reports said Iran’s army also launched drone attacks targeting US forces at an air base in Bahrain, while AFP reporters in Bahrain heard air-raid alerts early Wednesday. Kuwait’s army said it was responding to missile and drone attacks it described as Iranian hostilities.

In Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they struck US bases with missiles and drones, and state-run IRNA reported the destruction of a maintenance centre, warehouses and equipment.

Casualties and damage reported inside Iran

Iranian state media attributed deaths and injuries to recent US strikes. IRNA reported seven people killed and eight wounded in a missile attack in Khuzestan province. Iran’s Red Crescent said shrapnel from a US missile killed four people, including a child, and wounded more than 50 in Kuhestak, Hormozgan province.

IRNA also reported explosions in Iran’s south along the Hormuz strait and on an island in the Gulf after US strikes, and said US forces hit an airport in Kerman province. It reported that “four projectiles hit areas within the counties of Chabahar and Konarak,” without specifying damage.

Claims, warnings and responses

Iranian Revolutionary Guards spokesman Hossein Mohebi warned on X that Washington “will regret its new attacks,” saying “severe punishment awaits the aggressors.” Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam-al Anbiya central military command, warned that “any country that cooperates with the aggressive American army will face more severe, more widespread and destructive responses.”

US Central Command spokesman Tim Hawkins said, according to the report, that “the US military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC,” referring to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

US President Donald Trump described the US strikes as “large and powerful” and said they were carried out “in retaliation for the Iranians’ failed attempt at adding sea mines to the Strait” and for an attack on a US base in Jordan. He warned on his Truth Social platform that if Iran retaliated, “they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level, but it will not be the biggest attack of them all.” He added: “That is waiting in the wings and, when it is over, there will be very little left of the Islamic Republic of Iran!”

Broader context

The flare-up followed US strikes on Sunday that Washington said targeted Iranian rocket launchers on the island of Larak to prevent Tehran from planting mines in shipping lanes. The conflict began in late February with US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and has since included attacks on commercial ships in the Hormuz strait.

The report said Iran has been keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed while the United States maintains a counter-blockade of Iranian ports.

Maritime and regional impact

Greek risk firm Marisks reported that two crude tankers were struck by “unknown projectiles” late the previous day. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency logged one of the incidents and said no casualties or environmental effects were reported.

Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, vowed to match any US move to return to a deal aimed at ending the war and warned that a return to “a policy of pressure and threats could derail the path of diplomacy,” the report said.

What remains unclear

Certain details were not specified in the reporting, including independent confirmation of damage to the US bases Iran said it struck and full casualty figures from some of the reported attacks.