WASHINGTON — The U.S. military hit targets in Iran on Tuesday and Tehran fired missiles and drones at various sites across the region in response as hostilities flare once again in an intermittent war that has lasted more than six months. One U.S. strike hit a home hosting a wedding, killing five people and wounding dozens, local officials said.
U.S. Central Command said in a statement Tuesday evening that it had completed the latest barrage against Iranian military targets including air defense sites, radar systems and maritime assets.
The U.S. strikes followed others on Sunday that abruptly ended a month without military action and threatened to fully reignite a conflict that has spiked global oil prices and posed political problems for Republicans in November’s midterm congressional elections. The renewed fighting comes after President Donald Trump had appeared to pivot toward trying to bend Iran to his will through economic sanctions.
“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,” Trump warned on social media.
U.S. Central Command said the latest strikes were in response to Tehran trying to attack commercial ships and American forces in the Middle East. Trump offered an additional explanation, telling Fox News in a phone call that U.S. forces struck Iran’s radars.
“They tried to rebuild their radar because they can’t see anything,” Trump told Fox. “We waited until it was almost built and then we hit it.”
After the U.S. attacks started, Iran launched ballistic missiles at Jordan. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard claimed to have targeted a U.S. base along Jordan’s Gulf of Aqaba coast, according to Iran’s state television.
Jordan’s military said it shot down 10 of the missiles and the three remaining landed in unpopulated areas. Explosions that appeared to be interceptions of incoming air attacks were seen over Aqaba.
Iranian state media reported that the U.S. had bombed civilian sites along Iran’s southern coast and hit a civilian airport. A U.S. strike hit a home where a wedding ceremony was being held in Kuhestak in southern Iran, killing five people, including a child, and wounding at least 68 others, Ahmad Nafisi, Hormozgan Province’s deputy governor, told Iranian state television in a phone call.
“Make no mistake: these crimes will not go unpunished,” Ebrahim Azizi, chairman of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said on X.
U.S. Central Command is aware of the reports of civilian casualties, said Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman. He noted that they “originated from Iranian state media.”
“The U.S. military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC,” Hawkins said.
The Kuwaiti Army said on X that its air defenses intercepted drone attacks “following the criminal Iranian aggression.” Iran also said it launched a drone attack at U.S. forces in Bahrain, but there was no immediate confirmation from that country.
Iran’s military warns of ‘devastating blows’
Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff and its joint military command said the armed forces would deliver what they described as “crushing and devastating blows” against the United States. The state-run IRNA news agency cited a statement by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which warned that the attacks have only strengthened the Islamic Republic’s resolve and tightened Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil normally flows.
Explosions were reported across several southern Iranian coastal areas, including the port city of Bandar Abbas that is home to naval and air force facilities as well as Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Witnesses in Bandar Abbas said that the explosions were stronger than those on Sunday and said they saw smoke rising from the eastern part of the city on the strait.
Iranian state television said U.S. strikes hit a fishmeal factory on Qeshm Island and several civilian sites in Hormozgan province. It said a fishing pier and a Ports and Maritime Organization tower in Sirik were among the locations struck.
State TV also reported that the U.S. military struck the civilian Jiroft Airport in central Iran’s Kerman province, saying a projectile struck an area outside the runway and caused no casualties or damage to airport infrastructure.
The U.S. and Iran are both seeking control over the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway off Iran’s coast that is a vital oil shipping corridor. Tehran effectively closed it after the war began.
Oil prices have moved sharply higher this week with renewed clashes between Iran and the United States. Crude, already up about 7% this week, continued to rise following the strikes on Tuesday.
The price of crude has jumped more than 50% this year and it’s dragged the cost of gasoline upward with it. The cost for a gallon of regular gasoline in the U.S. ticked higher again overnight to $4.10, according to AAA. Last year at this time, a gallon cost $3.19.
Cars and residential buildings damaged in a U.S.-Israeli strike earlier this year remain in ruins in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A small boat sails past cargo ships and other commercial vessels anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP, File)