Iran attacks U.S. bases across Gulf after reports of deadly strike on wedding

The United States threatened more devastating strikes. Iran accused Washington of hitting a wedding party, killing five people and wounding dozens.

Asian and European stocks fell after the renewed U.S. airstrikes, which pushed oil prices back up to levels unseen since July, compounding the economic impact of a global sell-off in bonds as disrupted energy supplies fuel inflation worldwide.

The U.S. military’s Central Command said it struck Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps air defences, radar systems, maritime assets, mine-laying capabilities and communications sites on Tuesday. Iranian media reported hits on multiple targets near the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow waterway where Tehran has threatened tankers attempting to pass without its permission.

“Last night was like the end of the world,” Mahmoud, 38, a municipal worker in Sirik County along the strait, told Reuters by telephone, describing the attacks on the area which includes the city where the wedding was reported to have been hit.

Iran responded by striking what it said were U.S. assets in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Iraq, and said its aim was now to drive U.S. forces out of the vast network of military bases they have maintained for decades across the Middle East.

“American evil in the region will be met with heavier, more widespread, and devastating responses, and any country that cooperates with the aggressive American army must accept its dangerous consequences,” Iran’s military command said.

U.S., Iran trade new strikes, warnings as hostilities flare 

The U.S. launched a fresh round of airstrikes against Iran on Tuesday, following a weekend exchange of fire that broke a month of relative calm in the conflict. Tehran said it responded with missiles and drones on U.S. targets in the region while warning that U.S. attacks would ‘tighten the lock’ on the Strait of Hormuz.

Jordan’s military said it dealt with 13 missiles, 10 of which were intercepted and three which fell in remote areas. The IRGC said it killed a large number of U.S. forces in Jordan, but U.S. officials told Reuters there had not been any casualties, according to initial assessments.

In Kuwait, Iran said it had carried out a missile and drone attack on the vast U.S. Ali Al Salem Air Base and targeted the accommodation of a U.S. commander. Kuwait’s fire service said crews put out a blaze at a residential complex early on Wednesday that was struck by an Iranian drone causing damage but no casualties.

Qatar, home of the largest U.S. airbase in the Gulf, said it holds Iran “fully legally responsible for these attacks and their repercussions and consequences.” Bahrain, which houses the regional headquarters of the U.S. navy, said Iranian drones were intercepted and destroyed.

Iran also said two tankers were struck by mines while being steered through the Strait of Hormuz by U.S. personnel.

Washington says that despite Iranian attacks it is guiding ships through the strait. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said more than 17 million barrels of oil exited on Monday.

Saudi Arabia’s national shipping company reported on Wednesday that two Filipino crew had been killed aboard an oil tanker in the strait two days earlier.

5 killed during wedding in Iran

Iranians who endured U.S. strikes for much of the past six months were fearful that the war could restart at full throttle.

“It’s very difficult to live like this. We don’t know when America will strike. My family and I are constantly worried about where will it strike,” Mahpari, 28, a woman in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, told Reuters by phone.

Iran reported at least 12 deaths from the night of U.S. strikes, with five people including a four-year-old said to have been killed while celebrating a wedding at a home in Sirik, a town along the coast of the strait.

Iranian media said as many as 68 people were wounded there, and released images of several injured children in hospital. Iranian officials compared the incident to a strike on a girls’ school that killed 160 people on the war’s first night.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the incident and U.S. officials did not comment on it. Video filmed by Iran’s West Asia News Agency at the purported site showed rubble strewn across rooms and a courtyard of a home. A pair of strappy women’s dress sandals lay abandoned on a blood-soaked carpet.

“I am just glad the casualties weren’t even worse,” said Ali Molahi, identified as the father of the bride.

Worst exchange of fire since July

The exchange of fire was the worst since July, when U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly halted two weeks of intense bombing of Iran after warnings from his military brass that they were using up munitions and running out of meaningful targets.

Iran’s war-battered economy and degraded conventional forces have left it stretched thin, while Washington has used up much of its stocks of air defense munitions and burned through its precision long-range missiles.

Still, Trump, who has yet to achieve the aims he set when launching “Operation Epic Fury” in February — to end Iran’s nuclear program, deprive it of the ability to strike its neighbours and create conditions for Iranians to topple their rulers — repeated his declarations that victory was at hand.

“I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing,” he said on Tuesday.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington was looking at targeting airlines, the maritime industry and digital assets as part of a campaign to increase economic pressure on Tehran.

Sources have told Reuters Trump aides were trying to keep the war quiet for now to avert a rout in congressional elections in November. Polls show Americans oppose the war by more than a two-to-one margin.

Iran, for its part, is determined to emerge from the war stronger than before, with sanctions lifted, blocked funds released, and a newfound grip over the strait letting it collect fees from ships that normally carry a fifth of global oil. — Thomson Reuters