Iran has launched missile and drone attacks at US targets across the Middle East, after American forces resumed strikes against Iran
Kuwait and Jordan said they were responding to Iranian attacks early on Wednesday, while Iranian state media reported strikes on Iraq and Bahrain
It comes after the Iranian Red Crescent said five people - including a child - were killed at a wedding celebration when shrapnel from a US missile hit a house in southern Iran
In response, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf - Iran's chief negotiator in talks with the US earlier this year - says: "If a power acts like Satan, picks targets like Satan, and kills like Satan, it's Satan"
The US military says it is aware of the reports but that it never targets civilians, and was striking Iranian targets in response to "recent attempted attacks" on American forces and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz
As we mention in the previous post, President Trump has claimed the US has "almost total control" of the Strait of Hormuz. But why is the Strait so significant?
The Strait of Hormuz is a key waterway responsible for much of the world's shipping.
Given its proximity to Iran - and significance to world trade - it has been an arena where much of the fighting and diplomacy between Washington and Tehran has played out.
Image source, EPAUS President Donald Trump says he is not forcing Iran to the bargaining table.
"I couldn't care less if they sign a worthless, to them, agreement," Trump has written on his social media platform Truth Social.
He says he likes Washington's position "now much better", suggesting that the US has "almost total control" of the Strait of Hormuz.
But Iranian threats and attacks to shipping have stopped most traffic through the key shipping route. While some oil tankers have moved through it in recent weeks, volumes remain much lower than at the start of the war.
Tehran has carried out missile and drone attacks on US targets in Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq and Bahrain after American forces resumed strikes on Iran on Tuesday.
The Jordanian Armed Forces said it had intercepted 13 ballistic missiles, 10 of which were destroyed, while three fell in remote areas. There were no deaths or injuries.
Separately, Kuwait said its air defences were responding to Iranian missile attacks early Wednesday.
Several explosions were also reported in Bahrain, according to Iranian state media.
And according to Iranian news agency Irna, the IRGC has reported striking US bases in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, destroying a maintenance centre, warehouses and equipment.
Image source, Iranian Red Crescent via ReutersRubble lies around damaged houses following a reported attack near a wedding gathering in Sirik, Iran, in this still from a video from the Iranian Red Crescent Society
Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has called Washington “THE Great Satan” after US strikes reportedly hit a wedding party in Sirik, southern Iran.
The Iranian Red Crescent says five people, including a child, were killed and more than 50 were injured when a US missile attack hit a home where the wedding celebration was taking place.
The US military said it was aware of the reports but it never targeted civilians.
But this morning, in a post on X, Ghalibaf pointed to civilian fatalities since the start of the war, including at a primary school in Minab, saying: “If a power acts like Satan … it’s Satan."
US Central Command (Centcom) said the strikes on Iran followed “recent attempted attacks” by Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and American forces in the region.
Tehran has since launched a series of attacks on US targets in Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq and Bahrain.
We’ll bring you more on this story.
Image source, CentcomThe US resumed striking Iran in response to "recent attempted attacks" on American forces in the region, Centcom has said
