Iran has attacked US bases in the Gulf region in retaliation for the latest round of US attacks, which came after Donald Trump said he would hit the country “hard”, writes the BBC.
US Central Command (Centcom) said it had ended a second straight day of “self-defense strikes” launched overnight after Trump said Tehran was “taking too long to make a deal” to end the war.
In response, Iran attacked US military bases in Bahrain and Kuwait, the same two targets of the Iranian attacks carried out the day before.
The escalation of attacks in recent days has tested a fragile truce agreed between the two countries in April.
After the latest US attack, explosions were heard in southern Iranian cities near the Strait of Hormuz, where US forces also attacked air defense systems, radars and other sites in the previous round of attacks.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also said it hit two oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state media reported, although there was no immediate confirmation.
This came after Iranian media reported that the Strait of Hormuz was “completely closed to all types of ships”. However, Centcom stated that “commercial vessels continue to transit in and out of the Strait of Hormuz”.
Oil prices rose shortly after the closure of the shipping channel and the announcement of the apparent attack on the ships, with Brent rising above $95 a barrel.
Hours before the US launched the latest attack, Trump had warned: “We hit them hard yesterday and we're going to hit them hard again today.”
Trump wrote on Truth Social that Iranian leaders “took too long to negotiate a deal.”
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Iran had been given a chance to strike a deal but had not taken it, adding that the bombs targeted “key facilities” in the country.
The US president added that Iran will be attacked again if a peace agreement is not reached.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran “will firmly resist any pressure or threat”. Iran's Foreign Ministry has previously accused the US of “affecting the diplomatic process through the contradictory messages it sends”.
In April, the US and Iran agreed to a truce that was originally supposed to last for two weeks. Since then, both sides have exchanged intermittent fire.
However, recent efforts to broker negotiations between Washington and Tehran have stalled and attacks have intensified.
This week, an American helicopter was shot down in an attack attributed to Iran. The IRGC responded by targeting US bases in the Middle East.
In a statement on the X show, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the Middle East “is being drawn into an even deeper crisis.
“All sides must work towards a diplomatic solution. No more attacks. No more excuses,” he said in a statement.
