The US and Iran have traded strikes across the Middle East for a second day, pushing the region closer to full-scale war as Donald Trump threatened to seize Iran's "crown jewel" Kharg Island.
Iran's foreign ministry said the overnight strikes had rendered the two-month-old ceasefire "practically meaningless". The US Central Command said it had completed "self-defense strikes" targeting military, surveillance and radar sites in southern Iran, hours after Trump vowed US forces would hit Iran "very hard tonight".
“US and Iran exchange strikes for second day, ceasefire rendered meaningless, as Trump threatens to seize Kharg Island.”
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it fired ballistic missiles at a US command centre in Jordan, claiming to have destroyed "a large number" of US fighter jets. Jordan said 20 missiles were intercepted without casualties.
In Bahrain, falling shrapnel from intercepted Iranian drones damaged homes and vehicles in Manama and Hamad Town, leaving an 11-year-old girl with a "minor injury". Kuwait said its air defence systems intercepted "hostile aerial targets", and it temporarily closed its airspace.
In Iran, explosions were reported around Tehran and the port city of Bandar Abbas near the Strait of Hormuz. The IRGC said it had hit two oil tankers passing through the crucial shipping channel, although there was no immediate confirmation. The US military's Central Command said commercial ships were continuing to transit. Oil prices rose after the attack.
Trump escalated the rhetoric on Truth Social: "The United States will be hitting Iran (Whose Navy, Air Force, Radar, Anti Aircraft, and all other forms of Defense, together with most of its offensive capability, are GONE!), VERY HARD TONIGHT." He added: "At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets."
The US military has continued to enforce a blockade of Iranian ports, firing missiles to disable a tanker attempting to transport Iranian oil. An Indian official said a US strike on a different merchant ship earlier this week killed three Indian sailors.
Efforts to negotiate an end to the war appear stuck. Trump had warned Tehran would "pay the price" for stalled negotiations. Iran's foreign ministry said the strikes had effectively rendered the ceasefire meaningless without abandoning it. Central to the deadlock is Iran's stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, which has disrupted global energy supplies and driven up prices. Iran announced the strait was closed, but the US military disputed the claim. Trump said the US had undertaken a secret mission to sneak ships through the passage.