Iran targets American bases in Jordan and the Gulf after fresh US strikes near Hormuz

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had carried out attacks against a US base in Jordan and 21 other targets in the Gulf on Wednesday in retaliation for American strikes around ​the Strait of Hormuz. The clashes mark one of the biggest exchanges in hostilities since the two countries agreed to a ceasefire in April. The Iranian strikes, which included attacks in ‌Kuwait and Bahrain, came after the US military said on X it had targeted Iranian air defence, ground control stations and surveillance radar sites near the strait in response to what US President Donald Trump said was the downing of a US Apache helicopter on Tuesday. “I believe the response should be very strong, very powerful, and that’s what this one is,” Trump told ABC News on Tuesday. The escalation in violence deepens doubts about the prospects for a deal to end the war that started on February 28 with joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran. Tehran ​responded by firing on US bases and assets in Gulf countries and all but choked off the Strait of Hormuz, a vital conduit for oil and gas. The fresh Iranian strikes came after the United States carried out its own attacks on the Islamic Republic in response to Tehran shooting down an American helicopter. The latest US strikes lasted around four hours before the ​US Central Command posted just before 9pm ET (0100 GMT on Wednesday) that they had ended. A US official said almost 20 Iranian targets had been struck. Iran’s state media reported that ⁠Qeshm island and the port city of Sirik in the Strait of Hormuz were attacked. Sounds of explosions were heard in nearby Bandar Abbas, and later in the vicinity of Jask, near the entrance to the strait, Iranian media reported, citing local ​sources and residents. Iranian forces fired “long-range missiles” and “targeted and destroyed four major targets” in Jordan, including F-35 fighter nests at an air base and the US command centre in Al-Azraq, the country’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement quoted by state-run IRN