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Friday, Jul 31, 2026
Outside the box.
US Says It Has Carried Out Heavy Strikes on Iran After Attempted Attacks on Its Forces
US Central Command said dozens of Iranian targets were hit after missiles were fired towards US forces in Jordan, while Iranian media reported civilian deaths on Qeshm island.
The US military says it has completed a “heavy wave” of strikes against Iran in retaliation for what it described as Tuesday’s attempted ballistic-missile attacks on American forces.
US Central Command, or Centcom, said it struck “dozens” of targets linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, after Iran fired towards US bases in Jordan and ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian state media said the latest strikes killed three people, including a two-year-old child, on Qeshm island.
Other locations in southern and western Iran were also reported to have been hit.
The exchange follows a week in which the conflict has widened, including the first publicly announced joint US-Saudi strikes on Iranian proxies in Iraq.
Iran and the United States have traded escalating strikes since a ceasefire, intended to pause the months-long war, collapsed in June.
The United States has blockaded Iranian ports and bombed sites inside Iran.
Iran has launched missiles and drones at US assets across the Middle East and targeted shipping in the strategically and economically important Strait of Hormuz, which links the Gulf and the Arabian Sea.
On Wednesday, Axios cited an unnamed US official as saying that President Donald Trump had met Saudi defence minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, who conveyed Saudi Arabia’s wish to reduce tensions.
The BBC said it had contacted the White House for comment.
The Egyptian government, meanwhile, said that a fire at a port on Wednesday had been caused by a drone attack.
Egypt, a US ally, had not previously been directly attacked during the war.
The conflict resumed after several days of relative calm.
Both sides had halted strikes while talks appeared to restart in pursuit of a diplomatic solution.
Trump called them “very friendly negotiations”, although Tehran denied that any discussions were taking place.
After the Iranian missile attack on a US base in Jordan on Tuesday, Trump promised retaliation.
“We’re going to be hitting them very hard because it’s our turn to hit them.
They know it’s coming.
They asked us not to do it,” he told reporters at the White House.
The latest US operation began at 20:00 ET on Wednesday, or 01:00 BST on Thursday, and lasted about an hour.
Centcom called it a “powerful response to yesterday’s attempted Iranian attacks on US forces based in the Middle East” and said all Iranian missiles had been intercepted.
Centcom said the US had targeted “military command centers, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defense sites, and maritime capabilities”.
Iranian state broadcaster Irib reported that Qeshm and Abadan, both important to the oil industry, were among the areas struck.
Fars reported, citing Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, that “a US attack on a residential home in the Chah Tangu neighbourhood of Qeshm killed three members of a family: the father, the mother, and their 2-year-old child”.
A man in his thirties living in the south of Qeshm told BBC Persian that he was travelling to Tehran because “things are becoming more dangerous here”.
“Our internet situation has been a mess.
The electricity has been cutting out several times since this morning,” he said.
“There have been loud bangs since 03:40 this morning.
We are helpless.”
Jordan’s armed forces said its air-defence systems had shot down five Iranian missiles aimed at the kingdom on Thursday.
On Tuesday, the IRGC said it had targeted a US air base and a command centre in Jordan “in response to the acts of aggression of the American child-killing army”.
It also said its naval forces had struck three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz after they “ignored warnings” and travelled along what it called an “unsafe and illegal route” through the waterway.
Last Friday, Trump suspended an intensive bombing campaign that had lasted 13 consecutive nights.
The United States said it had struck Iranian weapons and military sites, and scores of people were reported to have died.
Centcom said on Tuesday that joint US-Saudi strikes had hit “multiple terrorist logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq in a strong response to over 30 IRGC-directed aerial drone attacks in the last 72 hours”.
Iraq’s paramilitary Popular Mobilisation Forces, or PMF, which is dominated by Iran-backed Shia militias, said at least 20 of its members had been killed in the US-Saudi strikes on its bases.
Iraq’s presidency condemned the bombing, calling it “an unacceptable attack and a blatant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty”.
Trump told Fox News that the strikes had been “co-ordinated with the Iraqi government”.
Saudi Arabia, which regards itself as the leading Sunni Muslim power, and Iran, the largest Shia Muslim country, have been locked in a struggle for regional dominance for decades.
US Central Command, or Centcom, said it struck “dozens” of targets linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, after Iran fired towards US bases in Jordan and ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian state media said the latest strikes killed three people, including a two-year-old child, on Qeshm island.
Other locations in southern and western Iran were also reported to have been hit.
The exchange follows a week in which the conflict has widened, including the first publicly announced joint US-Saudi strikes on Iranian proxies in Iraq.
Iran and the United States have traded escalating strikes since a ceasefire, intended to pause the months-long war, collapsed in June.
The United States has blockaded Iranian ports and bombed sites inside Iran.
Iran has launched missiles and drones at US assets across the Middle East and targeted shipping in the strategically and economically important Strait of Hormuz, which links the Gulf and the Arabian Sea.
On Wednesday, Axios cited an unnamed US official as saying that President Donald Trump had met Saudi defence minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, who conveyed Saudi Arabia’s wish to reduce tensions.
The BBC said it had contacted the White House for comment.
The Egyptian government, meanwhile, said that a fire at a port on Wednesday had been caused by a drone attack.
Egypt, a US ally, had not previously been directly attacked during the war.
The conflict resumed after several days of relative calm.
Both sides had halted strikes while talks appeared to restart in pursuit of a diplomatic solution.
Trump called them “very friendly negotiations”, although Tehran denied that any discussions were taking place.
After the Iranian missile attack on a US base in Jordan on Tuesday, Trump promised retaliation.
“We’re going to be hitting them very hard because it’s our turn to hit them.
They know it’s coming.
They asked us not to do it,” he told reporters at the White House.
The latest US operation began at 20:00 ET on Wednesday, or 01:00 BST on Thursday, and lasted about an hour.
Centcom called it a “powerful response to yesterday’s attempted Iranian attacks on US forces based in the Middle East” and said all Iranian missiles had been intercepted.
Centcom said the US had targeted “military command centers, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defense sites, and maritime capabilities”.
Iranian state broadcaster Irib reported that Qeshm and Abadan, both important to the oil industry, were among the areas struck.
Fars reported, citing Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, that “a US attack on a residential home in the Chah Tangu neighbourhood of Qeshm killed three members of a family: the father, the mother, and their 2-year-old child”.
A man in his thirties living in the south of Qeshm told BBC Persian that he was travelling to Tehran because “things are becoming more dangerous here”.
“Our internet situation has been a mess.
The electricity has been cutting out several times since this morning,” he said.
“There have been loud bangs since 03:40 this morning.
We are helpless.”
Jordan’s armed forces said its air-defence systems had shot down five Iranian missiles aimed at the kingdom on Thursday.
On Tuesday, the IRGC said it had targeted a US air base and a command centre in Jordan “in response to the acts of aggression of the American child-killing army”.
It also said its naval forces had struck three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz after they “ignored warnings” and travelled along what it called an “unsafe and illegal route” through the waterway.
Last Friday, Trump suspended an intensive bombing campaign that had lasted 13 consecutive nights.
The United States said it had struck Iranian weapons and military sites, and scores of people were reported to have died.
Centcom said on Tuesday that joint US-Saudi strikes had hit “multiple terrorist logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq in a strong response to over 30 IRGC-directed aerial drone attacks in the last 72 hours”.
Iraq’s paramilitary Popular Mobilisation Forces, or PMF, which is dominated by Iran-backed Shia militias, said at least 20 of its members had been killed in the US-Saudi strikes on its bases.
Iraq’s presidency condemned the bombing, calling it “an unacceptable attack and a blatant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty”.
Trump told Fox News that the strikes had been “co-ordinated with the Iraqi government”.
Saudi Arabia, which regards itself as the leading Sunni Muslim power, and Iran, the largest Shia Muslim country, have been locked in a struggle for regional dominance for decades.
