U.S. forces struck Iranian military targets while Iran retaliated across the region despite a warning against doing so from President Trump Tuesday.
President Trump called the strikes “large and powerful” in response to Iran's effort’s to add sea mines to the Strait of Hormuz and targeting U.S. military assets in Jordan.
Trump warned Iran against retaliation.
“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!” he wrote on social media.
The US military hit IRGC “air defense sites, radar systems, maritime assets and facilities, mine laying capabilities, and communications sites,” according to US Central Command. In an interview with Fox News, Trump said the U.S. strikes targeted Iranian forces who were rebuilding radar systems.
In a statement carried by Iran's state-run IRNA news agency, the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces said Iran would deliver “devastating and painful blows” against the U.S. military in response to the strikes.
Jordanian armed forces intercepted least 13 ballistic missiles, according to a spokesman in a statement through the Jordan News Agency, Kuwait dealt with drone attacks Tuesday, according to its army and Iranian state media reported Iran targeted US forces in Bahrain.
There were no major damages or casualties as of late Tuesday afternoon, according to a U.S. official.
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Meanwhile, Iranian state media claimed that the U.S. struck a wedding.
“We’re aware of the reports, which originated from Iranian state media. The U.S. military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC,” said Central Command spokesperson Timothy Hawkins.
This is the second time this week the U.S. has conducted strikes against Iran following a pause of about a month, as the U.S. leans further into economic pressure.
“We are going to economically asphyxiate this regime” Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent said during the G20 finance ministers meeting in North Carolina.
President Trump called it a “failed nation.”
“They're a failed nation. They've got 350 percent inflation. They have no currency. They're not paying their soldiers. Their leaders are largely dead. Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their surveillance equipment is almost entirely gone. That doesn't mean we won't smack them. We'll see what happens. But we have the Strait of Hormuz in extremely good shape,” Trump said Monday.
MORE ON THE WAR | After six months of war in Iran, is the US achieving its goals?
As of last week, the White House denied there were any talks taking place with Iran.
“The Iranians want to make a deal, but they are always a day late and a dollar short” said a White House official Monday.
While Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signaled an openness to diplomacy earlier Tuesday, stating “We are committed to the Memorandum of Understanding that we signed, if America returns to it we will honor the agreement,” Iranian parliamentary speaker Bagher Qalibaf appeared to deny diplomacy.
“Or they may try to force us to surrender through diplomacy. Never. All of our officials fully understand this plan and know exactly what it is,” Qalibaf said via a state TV Telegram channel, according the Associated Press.
The war has now passed the six-month mark.
Trump initially indicated the war would be over within weeks. Trump has said the U.S. went to war to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and continues to state that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.
