ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The US Central Command (CENTCOM) on Wednesday said its forces had "completed" a wave of strikes against Iranian military targets, as Tehran indicated its response was underway. The latest flare-up comes after days of tit-for-tat exchanges since Sunday, and against the backdrop of weeks of relative calm between the two sides.
Tehran retaliated with missile and drone attacks against US interests across the Middle East, including in the Kurdistan Region.
CENTCOM said its forces "successfully completed a wave of strikes against Iranian military targets" on Tuesday, hitting sites belonging to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that included “air defense sites, radar systems, maritime assets and facilities, mine-laying capabilities, and communications sites.”
"The strikes follow recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members," CENTCOM added, noting that more than 50,000 US service members are currently operating across the region and "remain vigilant, lethal, and prepared to continue executing operations” directed by US President Donald Trump.
Trump said late Tuesday that his country's forces were striking Iranian targets near the Strait of Hormuz, posting on Truth Social that the bombardment was "large and powerful.”
The US commander-in-chief added that strikes were in retaliation for Iran's "failed attempt" to seed the Strait with sea mines and for a missile attack on an American military base in Jordan.
"If the failed nation of Iran retaliates for this very justified attack, they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level, but it will not be the biggest attack of them all, that is waiting in the wings and, when it is over, there will be very little left of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Trump warned.
Iran responds
Iran on Wednesday responded with missile and drone attacks against what it said were US assets in several countries in the Middle East.
The Iranian Army said that “in response to the targeting of innocent civilians, dozens of the army's strike drones have since early this morning targeted radar systems and positions of American forces at al-Dhafra and al-Minhad bases in the United Arab Emirates," according to a statement carried by the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
“Radar facilities and gathering points” of American forces at the Sheikh Isa Base in Bahrain “were again struck in a large-scale attack by Arash strike drones,” the army added.
For its part, the IRGC said its ground forces launched attacks on American outposts in Jordan, Bahrain, and the Kurdistan Region’s capital city of Erbil, and conducted "a combined missile and drone strike" against the headquarters and residential quarters of the American commander at Ali al-Salem Base in Kuwait, “killing a number of enemy personnel.”
Of note, video footage obtained by Rudaw showed a small fire near Erbil International Airport after two loud explosions were heard across the city early Wednesday.
The IRGC claimed the attack destroyed a repair center, technical equipment warehouses, and fuel tanks, as well as what it described as "the guidance system for the American spy balloon at the base."
Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters, which oversees Iran's wartime operations, said the attacks were retaliation for US strikes on southern Iran.
The US "has carried out brutal aerial aggression and bombings against several military and civilian sites in southern Iran, martyring and wounding a number of innocent people.”
Iran warned that its offensive could continue, and repeated US military action would result in “heavier, broader, and more destructive responses.”
The state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) cited Ahmad Nafisis, deputy governor of Hormozgan province in southern Iran, as saying that a residential home in the coastal village of Kuhestak, in Sirik County, which was hosting a wedding ceremony, was struck by US forces.
The Iranian Red Crescent said the strike killed "between four and five civilians, including a four-year-old child," and left "50 to 68 people wounded."
IRIB also reported strikes on maritime infrastructure in Sirik, including a fishing pier and a Ports and Maritime Organization tower, as well as a fishmeal factory on Qeshm Island, also in Hormozgan.
Farther inland, in the southeastern Kerman province, IRIB said a projectile struck near the perimeter of Jiroft Airport, outside the main runway, causing no casualties or structural damage.
Moreover, IRGC-affiliated outlets Fars News Agency and Tasnim News Agency reported multiple loud explosions across coastal sectors near Bandar Abbas, with local witnesses describing smoke rising near naval and maritime zones along the Strait of Hormuz.
Renewed escalation
The renewed escalation comes after weeks of relative calm between the US and Iran.
The US and Israel in late February launched a joint aerial campaign, striking thousands of targets across Iran over six weeks.
Tehran responded with thousands of drone and missile strikes across the Middle East, targeting alleged US assets - particularly in Gulf Arab states - while also launching retaliatory strikes against Israel.
The two sides reached a preliminary ceasefire mediated by Pakistan in early April, followed by the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding in mid-June, which established a truce on all fronts and set a 60-day window for negotiating a final agreement, extendable only by mutual consent.
Despite the MoU, Iran and the US have traded multiple rounds of strikes and counterstrikes, the latest of which escalated on July 8 before subsiding in late July. A fragile de-escalation has since taken hold, but shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has remained severely disrupted.
The latest round flared on Sunday when Washington carried out airstrikes on Iran's Larak Island in Hormozgan against what CENTCOM said were Iranian army "minelaying forces."
The IRGC on Monday said it launched a "punitive counteroffensive," conducting a synchronized missile and drone assault on the King Hussein and Al-Azraq air bases in Jordan using ballistic missiles.
The Iranian Army said that same day it had "targeted locations housing US military helicopters and personnel at al-Minhad Base in the UAE with dozens of explosive drones," framing the attack as retaliation for the killing of three people in the US strike on Larak Island on Sunday.
In the aftermath, Trump told Fox News that "there will be a response" to Iran's strikes against US bases in Jordan and the UAE, stating "We are going to hit them hard.”
