US strikes Iran airport

The United States attacked an airport in southern Iran, according to state media, as it exchanged strikes with Tehran . Donald Trump , the US president, said he had launched “large and powerful” strikes in retaliation for the regime’s attempts to mine the Strait of Hormuz, and threatened the “biggest attack of all” if it retaliated. Iran nevertheless fired drones and missiles in what it called a “decisive operation” against American targets. An escalating round of tit-for-tat strikes ends a period of relative calm in the Middle East. The US targeted Jiroft airport in the southern Iranian province of Kerman in addition to several strikes along the coast of the Strait of Hormuz and on Iranian islands in the Gulf, state media reported. US Central Command said its forces struck Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets from noon EDT, in response to “attempted IRGC attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members deployed to the region”. Mr Trump said: “The strikes are large and powerful, and in retaliation for the Iranians’ failed attempt at adding sea mines to the Strait… and the Iranians shooting eight missiles, all successfully knocked down, at our 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,” the president added. “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!” Residents across Iran’s southern coast reported waves of explosions from early evening. Witnesses in Bandar Abbas described as many as 10 blasts in quick succession near the Shahid Rajaee port and the city’s airport, with tremors felt indoors. Others reported multiple explosions on Qeshm Island and near the Strait of Hormuz, and later blasts around Sirik, Konarak and Chabahar. Iranian media said targets may have included Larak Island. Ahmad Nafisi, a senior official in Hormozgan province, said no impacts or casualties had been reported and urged people to rely only on official sources and ignore rumours. The strikes followed a pointed offer from Masoud Pezeshkian, the Iranian president, who said Iran would return to a ceasefire if the US honoured its memorandum of understanding with the regime. Addressing the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek, he said Washington’s commitment to the memorandum “lasted less than two weeks” and had been met with “a proportionate response from Iran”. “If America returns to its commitments under that memorandum, the Islamic Republic of Iran will immediately reciprocate,” he added. They also came after the first exchanges in a month over the weekend, when the IRGC said a US strike on Larak Island, near the mouth of the strait, had killed soldiers and civilians during the weekend. Iran retaliated by firing ballistic missiles at the King Hussein and Al-Azraq bases in Jordan, claiming “heavy damage”. Mr Trump, six months into a war he predicted would take five weeks, has seen his poll ratings collapse as the conflict drags on. Just 31 per cent of Americans support it against 63 per cent opposed, according to a recent Ipsos survey. Traffic through Hormuz has collapsed to about 12 ships a day from 130 before the war. US fuel prices are about $1.10 a gallon higher, and 18 American service members have been killed. A renewed campaign would further strain a depleted US stock of Patriot interceptors, estimated to have fallen to as low as 759 from 2,330, according to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.