Iran sworn to “punish” UNITED STATES Thursday after the US military said it had carried out a “wave of strikes” overnight, the latest retaliatory measure against an attack by Tehran against American forces in the Middle East.
The resumption of fighting broke a brief period of calm which had seen both sides commit to relaunching diplomatic efforts and avoiding a new dramatic escalation.
But President Donald Trump said the United States would hit the Islamic Republic hard after its attack on a base in Jordan. And the powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) signaled that the surge in violence would not stop there, warning early Thursday that “the aggressor will be punished today” following the US strikes.
There are also signs that the war is expanding again and drawing in new countries, raising the stakes for the region and the global economy.
After Saudi Arabia joined the United States In striking Iran-backed militants, Egypt confirmed Thursday that a drone had started fires on two natural gas ships in the port of Damietta.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the drone strike — against a U.S. floating storage facility and a Greek oil tanker — but an Iranian attack would mark a significant further expansion of the conflict toward a key U.S. ally and mediator. It would also highlight the wider risk that the difficulty of resolving the conflict poses to global energy supplies.
When asked if it was Iran during an Oval Office event Wednesday, Trump said he had been briefed on the incident and “it’s kind of the same thing.”
“It’s going to be okay,” he added, without specifying what exactly he meant. “In the meantime, we’re going to hit them really hard because it’s our turn to hit them.”
Trump also promised Wednesday to “beat this fucking bullshit” Iran after its Tuesday attack on U.S. forces, according to Fox News, which cited a phone call with the president.
Hours later, U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM, said in a post on
CENTCOM said dozens of targets belonging to the Revolutionary Guard Corps were struck in two hours, including “military command centers, missile and drone installations, coastal surveillance and defense sites, and maritime capabilities.”
Strikes have been reported in Iranian cities. A toddler was among three people killed on the island of Qeshm in the Strait of Hormuz, the official IRIB news agency reported.
This key waterway has become the focal point of the conflict and the main sticking point in peace talks.
Some 20% of the world’s oil passed through this key trade route before the war, but transport through Hormuz and along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea has been slowed by the attacks as the United States struggles to break Tehran’s grip.
Mediators and Trump had expressed some optimism about diplomatic efforts after the interim agreement between the two sides collapsed into weeks of tit-for-tat strikes.
But the new surge has seen oil prices rise again, with international benchmark Brent crude hovering around $90 a barrel early Thursday.