US bombs Iran after missile attack on American base
CENTCOM (@CENTCOM) Live Events 'DEATH TO AMERICA' SHOUTED IN IRAQ IRAQ'S DANGEROUS RIFT as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Addas a Reliable and Trusted
CENTCOM (@CENTCOM) Live Events 'DEATH TO AMERICA' SHOUTED IN IRAQ IRAQ'S DANGEROUS RIFT as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Addas a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Washington DC: The U.S. carried out fresh strikes in Iran on Wednesday, the U.S. military said, further intensifying a five-month-old war that was already expanding beyond its main fronts to embroil additional countries in the region."U.S. forces began launching strikes against Iran at 8:00 p.m. ET today (0000 GMT)," U.S. Central Command said in a statement."The strikes are a powerful response to yesterday's attempted Iranian attacks on U.S. forces based in the Middle East."Earlier on Wednesday, a drone hit a U.S.-owned gas storage tanker at Egypt's Mediterranean port of Damietta, British maritime security firm Ambrey said in an initial assessment, while U.S. and Saudi forces launched strikes against Iran-aligned groups in eastern Iraq and Iran fired missiles at U.S. troops in Jordan.A statement from Egypt's petroleum ministry confirmed a fire at the port but made no mention of a drone attack. It was not immediately clear who was responsible.The latest strikes in Iraq and Egypt threatened to draw more Middle Eastern countries into the conflict, after the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen last week declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia.The U.S. strikes in Iran on Wednesday followed President Donald Trump's vow earlier in the day to retaliate against Iran for firing on U.S. troops."So it's our turn," Trump told reporters at the White House, promising to "hit them very hard" even as he again said Washington would continue to aim for a peace deal with Tehran.Iran confirmed overnight that it had fired on U.S. bases in Jordan and at ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and also spurned an Omani proposal to jointly manage the strait, a critical global shipping route for oil and gas.The war began in February, when the U.S. and Israel launched a bombing campaign in Iran that Trump said would last only a few weeks.
A temporary ceasefire agreement in June collapsed amid renewed fighting over the strait, which Iran says it now controls.Oil prices shot up on Wednesday in one of the sharpest spikes of the five-month war. Brent crude futures rose more than 8% to push the benchmark well above $90 a barrel, reversing much of a plunge earlier this week when Trump had unexpectedly halted U.S. strikes.The joint U.S.-Saudi attacks marked the first time Riyadh has publicly joined strikes alongside Washington.Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces, powerful Iran-backed paramilitary groups incorporated into the Iraqi security forces, said at least 20 members were killed and 32 wounded in U.S.-Saudi strikes targeting several bases across Iraq.Iraqi men shouted "Death to America!" as they carried the bodies of slain fighters in body bags.Washington and Riyadh said they struck Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq in retaliation for drone attacks on Saudi oil targets launched from Iraq.After the joint attacks, Saudi Arabia's defense minister met with Vice President JD Vance in Washington on Wednesday to urge the Trump administration not to escalate the conflict further by attacking Yemen's Houthis and carrying out additional strikes against the Iran-aligned militias in Iraq, two sources told Reuters.One of the sources added that such escalation would open the door to "major unknown risks." The White House and Saudi embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.U.S. officials have privately cautioned that resuming major combat operations against Iran would carry risk given the negative impact on stocks of munitions.The Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, estimated this week that the U.S. military has fewer than 1,000 Patriot interceptor missiles and fewer than 250 THAAD interceptors -- two key air defense systems.Though Iran denies its forces have directed strikes from Iraqi territory, Iranian newspaper Hamshahri reported that four Iranian Revolutionary Guards advisers had been killed in the strikes on Iraq.The strikes on Iraq expose a dangerous rift in that volatile country.
The BriefWire