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Strikes and Missile Response
The U.S. military hit targets in Iran on Tuesday and Tehran fired missiles and drones in response as hostilities flared again in an intermittent war that has lasted more than six months.
“The U.S. military hit targets in Iran on Tuesday and Tehran fired missiles and drones in response”
One U.S. strike hit a home hosting a wedding in Kuhestak in southern Iran, killing two people and wounding dozens, local officials said, and Iranian state television later reported the death toll had risen to four, including a child.
The 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, and Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff said the armed forces would deliver what it described as “crushing and devastating blows” against the United States.
Trump warned on social media that if the “failed Nation of Iran retaliates for this very justified attack, they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level,” and explosions were reported across several southern Iranian coastal areas, including Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.
Officials Trade Warnings
The U.S. Central Command posted on X that “Today at 12 p.m. ET (1600 GMT), U.S. forces began striking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets in Iran,” saying the strikes followed recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members deployed to the region.
Iran’s state broadcaster said there had been reports of explosions on Iran’s Qeshm Island, while Nour News cited reports of explosions in Bandar Abbas and Chabahar, and the state news agency IRNA reported the sound of explosions in Jask and Sirik.
Trump posted on social media that if Iran retaliated for the attack, “they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level,” and the U.S. Embassy in Qatar urged Americans to exercise “heightened vigilance and be aware of potential flight cancellations, airspace closures, and travel disruptions.”
Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf was quoted as saying, “If the enemy wants us not to export oil from the Persian Gulf, no one will be able to export oil,” while Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told a press conference in Tehran that Washington was “addicted to making excessive demands and has mistaken negotiations for dictating terms.”
Oil, Shipping, and Next Steps
Oil prices jumped as the renewed fighting raised fears of escalation, with Brent crude rising 2 percent on Tuesday to top $92 a barrel, extending a more than 2.5 percent gain from the previous day.
“Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 2 percent on Tuesday to top $92 a barrel”
Al Jazeera reported that Brent scheduled for November delivery stood at $92.31 a barrel as of 08:45 GMT, up from just over $88 a barrel when markets closed on Monday, and it linked the latest rise to U.S. strikes on Iran’s Larak Island and Iranian attacks on two bases used by U.S. forces in Jordan.
In a separate thread of diplomacy, President Masoud Pezeshkian said at a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, “I am stating clearly that if the US returns to its commitments under the memorandum of understanding, the Islamic Republic of Iran will immediately reciprocate,” according to IRNA.
The same Al Jazeera account said the MoU signed in June provided for a ceasefire extension and a 60-day negotiation period, and it noted that the ceasefire collapsed within weeks and the MoU lapsed last month, while Iran and Oman continued to discuss a proposed arrangement to restore maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.