WASHINGTON — U.S. Central Command said American forces began striking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets in Iran at 12 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, the first large U.S. wave since the weekend exchange over the Strait of Hormuz.
CENTCOM said the strikes followed “recent attempted attacks” by the Guards against commercial shipping in the strait and against U.S. service members in the region. Capt. Tim Hawkins, speaking for the command, told the BBC the military was aware of Iranian reports of civilian casualties and said the United States “never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC.”
The Iranian Red Crescent said four people, including a young child, were killed and more than 50 injured when shrapnel hit a home hosting a wedding in Sirik, in southern Iran, after a U.S. missile strike. Iranian media also reported explosions around Bandar Abbas, Qeshm Island, Konarak, Chabahar, and an airport in Jiroft.
The Guards said they answered with ballistic missiles at a U.S. Marine site in Jordan. Jordan’s military said it intercepted 10 of 13 missiles and that the rest fell in open areas, with no deaths or injuries. President Trump called Tuesday’s strikes “large and powerful” and warned that if Iran retaliated it would be hit again “at a much harder and higher level.”
The fighting follows Sunday’s U.S. strike on launchers on Larak Island and Iranian missiles at U.S. bases in Jordan. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tuesday that if Washington returned to its June Memorandum of Understanding commitments, Tehran would reciprocate. The BBC reported the CENTCOM announcement; Al Jazeera said oil jumped more than 4 percent after the strikes.
Sources: BBC; Al Jazeera.
