US broadens Iran strikes as Tehran claims attacks on Gulf bases
CENTCOM said it hit Iranian military sites and disabled a tanker, while Iran claimed strikes on US assets in Kuwait and Bahrain.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
4 min read
The US military expanded its attacks on Iran, striking sites farther north and near Tehran for the first time in the current round of fighting, Al Jazeera reported. The escalation raised pressure around the Strait of Hormuz, where US Central Command said it also disabled an oil tanker.
CENTCOM said early Thursday that its strikes hit Iranian command centers, air defenses, missile and drone systems, and coastal surveillance sites. The command said the operations were meant to “further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten innocent mariners” in the Strait of Hormuz.
Al Jazeera reported that at least 35 people have been killed and more than 300 wounded since the latest attacks began last Wednesday. CENTCOM has said the US strikes followed Iranian attacks on three commercial ships in the strait.
Targets inside Iran
CENTCOM said multiple Iranian locations were hit, including Bandar Abbas on Thursday. It also said US forces struck coastal defense and cruise missile sites on Greater Tunb Island late Wednesday in a 90-minute operation.
Al Jazeera reported that Greater Tunb is a small island near the Strait of Hormuz that is believed to host a naval base, though details are not public. The island is also believed to be one location used by Iran’s military to interfere with shipping routes, according to the report.
Iranian media reported attacks in Bandar Abbas, Qeshm Island, Sirik, Chabahar, Konarak, Rask, Khondab, Khorramabad and Semnan. Al Jazeera also reported that a hospital in Ahvaz evacuated 211 patients after it was reportedly hit.
Air defenses were activated in Tehran and in nearby Pakdasht and Parchin on Thursday, according to Al Jazeera. Iran’s military said it shot down an MQ-9 drone over Andimeshk.
In a separate statement, CENTCOM said it was enforcing a naval blockade that had been reimposed Tuesday. The command said US forces used Hellfire missiles to disable a “non-compliant” oil tanker that was sailing toward Iran’s Kharg Island.
Iran claims retaliation
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it targeted US military assets in neighboring Gulf countries, according to Al Jazeera. Iran’s army separately claimed attacks on US assets in Kuwait and Bahrain on Thursday.
The Iranian army said it targeted radar systems, Patriot air defense equipment and fuel tanks used by US forces at Kuwait’s Ali Al Salem airbase. In an earlier statement, it said it hit a radar site and a US troop gathering point in Kuwait, along with US communications systems and fuel depots at Jordan’s al-Azraq airbase.
Iran’s army also said drones targeted US Super Hawk radars and Patriot systems at Bahrain’s Sheikh Isa airbase. Jordan said it intercepted eight Iranian missiles on Thursday.
Iraqi authorities said five drones attacked Erbil, according to Al Jazeera. Two crashed near a US base and one was shot down near the US consulate, but Iran’s army did not claim responsibility for those attacks.
What officials are saying
Iranian parliament speaker and lead negotiator Mohammad Ghalibaf said Wednesday that Iran was ready for a wider military confrontation if the US did not comply with the interim deal, according to Al Jazeera. He described the fight as “existential.”
The IRGC threatened to stop all Middle East energy exports over the US naval blockade. “The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one,” it said.
US President Donald Trump, speaking Wednesday at the US Army War College in Pennsylvania, said Iran wanted a settlement but offered no details. “They don’t like what we’re doing, and they do want to settle. We’ll find out whether or not we settle with them, or we just finish it off,” Trump said.
Trump also thanked Iran on Truth Social for releasing Dena Karari, an American citizen the US says had been wrongfully jailed in Iran since 2024. Vice President JD Vance defended the war in an interview with Joe Rogan released Wednesday, while saying the two sides needed an agreement to end the conflict.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.