Tehran has pledged to press ahead with military operations against United States forces and regional installations following a heavy wave of overnight American airstrikes, threatening to plunge the Middle East into an expanded conflict, according to reporting by Al-Monitor.
Iran’s top joint military command, the Khatam al-Anbiya central headquarters, announced Wednesday that its armed forces had targeted US military infrastructure across the region in retaliation for strikes on Iranian soil. Iranian military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari warned that operations would persist as "a lesson" until Washington regrets its actions, cautioning regional states that facilitating US military operations would bring direct consequences. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility for a barrage of missile and drone salvos directed at facilities housing American personnel in Jordan, Bahrain, and Kuwait, alongside an installation in Erbil in Iraq's Kurdistan region. The IRGC also asserted it carried out strikes on air bases in the United Arab Emirates. While regional air defense systems in Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain intercepted multiple incoming projectiles, an Iranian drone sparked a fire in a residential complex in Kuwait City.
The escalating confrontations have severely aggravated shipping risks in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, where Tehran has maintained a de facto maritime blockade. Two commercial crude tankers exploded after striking naval mines in the waterway on Wednesday; the IRGC alleged the vessels were operating under US control and transiting via unauthorized routes. The maritime explosions followed an earlier attack on a Saudi supertanker that killed two crew members. In turn, US Central Command (CENTCOM) carried out strikes against IRGC rocket batteries, radar facilities, and coastal sites in southern Iran, including Bandar Abbas, Chabahar, and Qeshm Island. Iranian authorities and the Red Crescent reported that at least 18 people were killed—including civilians attending a wedding in Sirik county—and more than 50 others wounded in the American bombardment.
The flare-up has shattered a fragile monthlong lull and undermined an interim memorandum of understanding mediated in June by Pakistan and Qatar. In a public statement on social media, US President Donald Trump declared that Washington is not using military action to force Tehran back to the bargaining table, pointing to US operational posture in the strait and compounding pressure on Iran’s economy. Concurrently, mediators in Islamabad and Doha cautioned that widening strikes across neighboring Gulf states risks derailing diplomatic initiatives aimed at restoring freedom of navigation and securing a durable ceasefire.