Oil prices rose nearly $3 following Trump's threat of escalation and extended gains in early Asian trade on Thursday
The United States. Iran traded air attacks on Thursday for a second straight day, with President Donald Trump vowing further strikes if Tehran does not immediately agree to a peace deal.
The escalation in hostilities began earlier this week with the downing of a US Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz, which sparked a series of tit-for-tat attacks across Iran. on US bases around the region.
It was the most serious threat to a fragile ceasefire agreed in April. dampening hopes for a swift end to the war that started in late February with massive US-Israeli joint air strikes on Iran.
The US military said its latest attacks targeted "military surveillance capabilities, communication systems,. air defence sites across Iran" in response to what it called Tehran's "unwarranted and continued aggression."
Trump told Fox News reporter Trey Yingst on Wednesday evening the US strikes would stop shortly,. that he would resume heavy bombing if Iran's leaders did not sign an agreement with the United States immediately, Yingst wrote on X.
Read:Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says 21 US military targets hit across region
Oil prices rose nearly $3 following Trump's threat of escalation, and extended gains in early Asian trade on Thursday.
The military's Central Command announced the strikes were complete about four hours after they began, soon after midnight in Tehran.
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Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had launched counter-attacks on 18 US military targets at airbases in Kuwait. Bahrain, as well as the US Navy's Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.
It later said it had also targeted the al-Azraq air base in Jordan for a second night running. firing 12 ballistic missiles at the US base.
Kuwait's air defences were engaging hostile aerial targets, the US ally's army said, while Bahraini air defences intercepted. destroyed Iranian aerial attacks, a media adviser to Bahrain's king said on X.
Two Indian seafarers killed in US attack on oil tanker
Two Indian seafarers have died,. one remains missing after a US attack on the Settebello oil tanker off the coast of Oman on Tuesday night, local news outletThe Hindureported, according toAl Jazeera.
Citing Manoj Yadav, General Secretary of the Forward Seamen’s Union of India (FSUI), the two people who were killed in the attack were named as Aditya Sharma, deck cadet,. Shivanand Chaurasiya, engine fitter. Chief Engineer Patnala Suresh is still missing, he added.
Following the attack, on Wednesday, India summoned the US Deputy Chief of Mission, Jason Meeks, and lodged a “strong protest”.
US CENTCOM has said that it carried out a “precision” strike on the Settebello, as it transited the Gulf of Oman on Tuesday evening, claiming it was carrying Iranian oil. that the crew failed to comply with instructions from US forces, according toAl Jazeera.
Kuwait reopens airspace after temporary suspension following Iranian attacks
Kuwait’s civil aviation authority announced Thursday. air traffic in Kuwaiti airspace had returned to normal after conditions that prompted earlier precautionary measures subsided.
The authority said it is closely monitoring developments around the clock in coordination with relevant domestic. international agencies to ensure the highest levels of safety and security in the country’s airspace.
It added that normal operations had also resumed at Kuwait International Airport, with flights operating according to approved schedules.
Earlier, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said 18 major US military targets had been struck at Ali Al Salem. Ahmad Al Jaber air bases in Kuwait, as well as Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain.
The developments came amid rapidly escalating tensions following US strikes on southern Iran. Tehran’s subsequent announcement of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to all vessels.
US denies Iran claim that Strait is closed
Iran's top joint military command also warned it would fire on any vessel trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. which has been largely closed for months. Iranian media said two US ships were fired on.
تردد در تنگه هرمز ممنوع شدقرارگاه مرکزی حضرت خاتمالانبیا(ص): از این لحظه به دلیل ناامنی در منطقه، تنگهٔ هرمز برای تردد هر نوع شناور اعم از نفتکش و تجاری بسته اعلام میشود و هرگونه تردد هدف اصابت قرار خواهد گرفت.ادعای آمریکا مبنی بر عبور کشتی از تنگهٔ هرمز تکذیب میشود.https://t.co/aphs96tagZ
US Central Command denied that the strait was closed or any of its ships were struck. saying commercial ships were still transiting the strait despite Iran's threats.
Iranian news agencies reported explosions in several cities across the country of 93 million, including Sirik, Kargan, Bandar Abbas, Minab,. Karaj near the strait, as well as Varamin far to the north, closer to the Caspian Sea.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth presented the move as an effort to force Iran into a deal to end the conflict.
The strikes would "advance our military interests. also enhance our diplomatic position," he told reporters during a visit to Central Command in Florida.
"We will strike them hard tonight, and hopefully Iran makes a good decision," he said. "If we need to negotiate with bombs, we'll negotiate with bombs."
The United States. Iran have traded fire several times since the tentative ceasefire took hold, even as negotiators have unsuccessfully sought to end the war, now in its fourth month.
Trump has repeatedly said a deal is close. though there has been no sign of a breakthrough, while also threatening to resume bombing.
Early on Wednesday, the US military targeted air defences. radar sites around the Strait of Hormuz after Monday's downing of a US attack helicopter near the strategic waterway.
Iran responded with missile and drone attacks on US bases in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain. A US official said there was no significant damage.
Iran accused the US of striking reservoirs that supplied drinking water to 10 villages and violating international law.
"This is not collateral damage - it is a calculated war crime. a flagrant violation of human rights," said foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghei.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The war has killed thousands. disrupted roughly a fifth of the global supply of crude oil and liquefied natural gas, sending prices sharply higher.
Iran has blocked traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, while the US has maintained its own blockade on Iranian ports.
The conflict has become a political headache for the White House. with polls showing Trump's approval ratings sinking amid voter anger over high gasoline prices.
Some Republicans have openly worried that the war's unpopularity could cost them control of Congress in November's midterm elections.
US strikes near Hormuz hit Iranian drinking water facility: Media reports
US strikes near the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday destroyed what appears to be a drinking water facility in southern Iran, theNew York Timesreported, citing satellite imagery. video analysis.
TheTimes' Visual Investigations team identified two small water storage structures in the village of Bemani in the Hormozgan province.
Earlier. Iranian media reported that strikes hit two water tanks in the Bemani district, with a local official reportedly saying that water was cut off to more than 20,000 people.
Tasnim, a semiofficial Iranian news agency, published images of weapons remnants retrieved from the site.
Specialists at the Open Source Munitions Portal. which catalogues weapons debris from conflict zones worldwide, determined that the fragments came from a GBU-39 — a US-made guided bomb weighing roughly 250 pounds, according to theTimes.
That conclusion aligns with the damage captured on a video of a damaged building, it added.
Under the Geneva Convention, which the US is a party to, deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure is a war crime.
The military’s US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Wednesday that US forces had "completed additional self-defence strikes against multiple targets," including Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communication systems,. air defence sites, using “precision munitions” fired by US Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy assets.
The command said the strikes were "in response to Iran's unwarranted and continued aggression."
Israeli attack targets house in Nabatieh causing fire
An Israeli drone targeted a house in the Maqasid neighbourhood of Nabatieh, southern Lebanon early this morning, causing a fire that engulfed the house. several cars parked in front of it, the country’sNational News Agencyreports, according toAl Jazeera.
Overnight, Israeli artillery shelled the areas of Sair al-Gharbiya, Adshit, Harj Ali al-Taher on the outskirts of Upper Nabatieh, the vicinity of the Nabatieh People’s Relief Hospital,. the Kafr Rumman roundabout.
Fighting in Lebanon continues
Fighting continued in Israel's parallel war on Lebanon.
Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed at least 13 people on Wednesday. Lebanese security sources said, while Hezbollah attacked Israeli forces.
The Israeli military said two "launches" were identified falling adjacent to an area where Israeli troops are operating in southern Lebanon. after sirens sounded in several areas of northern Israel early on Thursday.
Tehran's demands include an end to Israel's attacks in Lebanon, the lifting of sanctions on Iran, the release of billions of dollars in frozen assets,. recognition of its control of the strait.
Trump says Iran must end its restrictions on shipping through Hormuz. He also says any peace deal must ensure Iran cannot develop a nuclear weapon. Iran denies any such ambition.
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