The US military announced early Thursday that it had completed an “intensive wave” of strikes against Iran after Washington resumed attacks on Tehran following a week of relative calm, raising fears of a broader war in the Middle East as Iran’s regional allies become increasingly involved in the confrontation.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on X that its forces had “successfully completed an intensive wave of strikes against Iran” in response to attempted missile attacks a day earlier targeting US forces.
CENTCOM said the strikes targeted “dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sites inside Iran, including military command centers.”
It added that dozens of IRGC targets were struck, including military command centers, missile and drone facilities, surveillance and coastal defense sites, and naval capabilities.
CENTCOM said the strikes were intended to further reduce threats posed by Iran and its proxies to US forces, commercial shipping and neighboring Gulf states.
Iranian state media reported attacks Thursday on Qeshm Island and the southern city of Abadan, saying rescue teams were trying to locate two people trapped beneath the rubble of a house on Qeshm Island.
In a further expansion of the conflict across the Middle East, US and Saudi forces announced strikes on headquarters belonging to Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), which includes Iran-aligned armed groups. The development indicates that the conflict is widening beyond direct fighting with Tehran to include factions allied with Iran across the region.
Over the past two days, Saudi Arabia has reported drone attacks on its oil facilities, blaming Iraqi armed factions allied with Tehran.
The IRGC, meanwhile, said it had targeted US air bases and a command center in the region with ballistic missiles.
Before the latest strikes began, US President Donald Trump threatened Iran with powerful attacks, telling Fox News: “We’re going to hit them hard. They’re going to get hit very hard.”
The war began with a US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28. Hostilities largely ceased in April, despite some violations, and the ceasefire was reinforced when the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding in mid-June.
The understanding collapsed on July 7, with both sides resuming strikes amid continuing disagreements, particularly over the Strait of Hormuz. Washington struck targets in Iran, while Tehran retaliated by targeting US-allied countries in the region and said it had attacked military bases.
Iranian state television earlier reported US strikes in the country’s northwest near the border with Iraq. The Fars news agency quoted an official as saying that an “enemy missile” struck an uninhabited area without causing any casualties.
On the Lebanese front, the Israeli military on Wednesday accused Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire agreement by launching a drone toward an Israeli military vehicle in southern Lebanon during the night.
‘Dangerous Escalation’
US stocks closed sharply lower Wednesday as oil prices climbed, while yields on 30-year US Treasury bonds reached their highest levels since 2007.
Meanwhile, Iraq was again drawn into the widening Middle East conflict, which in recent days has also seen an escalation involving Riyadh and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, breaking years of relative calm on that front.
Saudi Arabia has repeatedly accused Iran-aligned Iraqi factions in recent days of targeting its oil facilities.
CENTCOM said US and Saudi forces carried out strikes “targeting Iran-aligned terrorists who had been directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to attack US forces and energy infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.”
The Popular Mobilization Forces said 20 of its members were killed and another 32 wounded in strikes across seven Iraqi provinces, condemning what it described as a “dangerous escalation” against “official security institutions.”
Two PMF officials told AFP that five Iranian advisers working with the group were among those killed in a strike in the central province of Diyala.
The PMF was formed in 2014 from volunteers and Iraqi armed groups to fight the terrorist organization Daesh, also known as ISIS, and later became part of Iraq’s official security establishment. However, it also includes brigades affiliated with Tehran-allied factions that operate independently and have carried out attacks on US interests during the war, prompting deadly US retaliatory strikes.
The Iraqi presidency described the attacks as an “unacceptable aggression and a flagrant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty and an attack on its official security institutions,” without naming those responsible.
It also rejected the use of Iraq “as a launching point or arena for attacks against neighboring countries or for settling regional and international scores.”
Trump, however, said the strikes had been coordinated with the Iraqi government. A Fox News correspondent quoted him as saying: “Those strikes were carried out in coordination with the Iraqi government.”
Red Sea
The United States said the pause in fighting over recent days was intended to pave the way for a new round of negotiations, including talks over the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has blockaded for much of the war.
On Wednesday, the IRGC said it had targeted three oil tankers attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. A day earlier, the Houthis said they had targeted a Saudi oil tanker in the Red Sea.
The United States on Wednesday announced new sanctions against Iranian entities, including two it said were linked to the IRGC and accused of imposing “insurance fees” on vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has highlighted the importance of the Red Sea as an alternative route for Saudi oil exports.
Sources: AFP
