The United States struck Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets across southern Iran from 2am AEST on Wednesday, Iran fired missiles and drones at bases in Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait and Iraqi Kurdistan in reply, and Iranian authorities say one American strike hit a wedding in the Hormozgan coastal town of Kuhestak, killing four people. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres condemned "all attacks against civilians" on Wednesday and called for an immediate end to military action.
US Central Command said its forces began striking at noon Eastern time on Tuesday "following recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members deployed to the region". It listed air defence sites, radar, maritime assets, mine-laying capability and communications sites as targets and declared the operation complete about seven hours later. Iranian media reported strikes near Ahvaz, Bandar Abbas, Chabahar, Jask, Sirik, Qeshm Island and Asaluyeh. President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social while they were under way that "the strikes are large and powerful, and in retaliation for the Iranians' failed attempt at adding sea mines to the Strait".
The casualty figures from Kuhestak come from Iranian state bodies and cannot be independently verified. The Hormozgan governor's office named the dead as a boy aged four, a boy aged 16 and two women aged 43. The Iranian Red Crescent, in a letter to the International Criminal Court prosecutor, put the toll at four dead and 67 wounded. IRNA and state television said at least 68 were wounded. The province's deputy governor had reported two dead on Tuesday night, and IRNA five, before the count settled at four.
“We're aware of the reports and we are looking into them," CENTCOM spokesperson Captain Tim Hawkins said, adding that "the US military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC". Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the wedding was "the true face of the war crime". Elsewhere, Khuzestan's deputy governor for security, Valiollah Hayati, said seven people were killed at three sites near Ahvaz, and Iranian state media said four IRGC members and 10 Basij volunteers died in the strikes.”
Iran's response came overnight. Jordan's armed forces said they detected 13 ballistic missiles, intercepted 10, and that three fell in remote areas without casualties. Bahrain said it intercepted drones, Kuwait said it repelled attacks with no casualties, and Kurdish authorities in Erbil said they shot down 10 drones. A US official said nobody was hurt at Camp Titin, the base on Jordan's Aqaba coast the IRGC said it had targeted. "If they retaliate, they'll be hit much harder," Trump had written on Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday he said: "It was a very heavy attack last night, and we're prepared to do another one any time we want."
Guterres, through his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric, said he was "gravely concerned by the renewed exchange of fire" and "deeply alarmed by reports of civilian casualties, including a strike that reportedly hit a wedding ceremony in Iran". He recalled that all parties must respect the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution, and urged the United States and Iran "to return urgently to diplomacy".
Washington gave no sign of doing so. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said of the memorandum the two sides signed in June that "that ship, in many ways, has sailed". Trump wrote: "I couldn't care less if they sign a worthless, to them, agreement. I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing." Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US would "sever every tie that they have to the outside world". Brent crude traded near US$96 a barrel on Tuesday night in New York, against about $80 a week earlier, and Saudi shipper Bahri said on Wednesday that two Filipino seafarers died when its tanker SIDR was hit in the strait late on Monday.
Australia has not commented on this week's strikes. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took no questions on Iran at his press conferences in Palau on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Foreign Minister Penny Wong's last statement on the country, on 15 June, welcomed the agreement that Rubio now describes as having sailed. Smartraveller updated its advice on Tuesday: "Do not travel to Iran. The security situation in Iran is extremely volatile." The Australian embassy's operations in Tehran remain suspended, with consular help routed through Ankara.
Trump said on Wednesday the campaign would end "not too long" from now. He did not say when, and the strait remains contested.
