WASHINGTON (AP) — The US military hit targets in Iran on Tuesday, and Tehran fired missiles and drones in response, as hostilities flared once again in an intermittent war that has lasted more than six months.
The Iranian Red Crescent said four people were killed, including a child, and over 50 others were wounded after a US strike hit a home that was hosting a wedding in the town of Kuhestak in the country’s south.
The US strikes followed others on Sunday that abruptly ended a month without military action and threatened to fully reignite a conflict that has spiked global oil prices and posed political problems for Republicans in November’s midterm congressional elections. The renewed fighting comes after US President Donald Trump had appeared to pivot toward trying to bend Iran to his will through economic sanctions.
“If the failed nation of Iran retaliates for this very justified attack, they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level, but it will not be the biggest attack of them all, that is waiting in the wings,” Trump warned on social media.
US Central Command said the latest strikes were in response to Tehran trying to attack commercial ships and American forces in the Middle East. Trump offered additional explanations, first writing on Truth Social that the US strikes were in retaliation for Tehran’s “failed attempt” to lay mines along the Strait of Hormuz.
