Iran has accused US forces of attacking a wedding after a party near the Strait of Hormuz was bombed.
The war in Iran started by the US is entering its 186th day, and the conflict is showing no sign of easing.
In the latest escalation, the armies on both sides exchanged fire across the Persian Gulf.
The US said it hit dozens of military targets on Iran’s southern coast yesterday, but the regime insisted at least one of them was a wedding party in Kuhestak near the troubled Strait.
More than 68 people were injured and at least four killed in the wedding attack, including women and children among those hurt, according to Iran’s foreign ministry.
The US Central Command has denied targeting civilians.
Tehran responded today with fresh attacks against US interests in Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq and Bahrain after Tuesday’s airstrikes.
Donald Trump has added fuel to the fire by threatening that the country will be ‘totally wiped out.’
The US president claimed the ‘large and powerful’ strikes were in retaliation for the Iranian’s ‘failed’ attempt to add mines to the strait, and firing of eight missiles towards an American military base in Jordan, which was thwarted.
Trump wrote on Truth Social: ‘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 and, when it is over, there will be very little left of the Islamic Republic of Iran.’
Airstrikes are also said to have taken place in Konarak, Bandar Abbas, Jask, Asaluyeh, and Qeshm Island, which houses cargo and oil terminals.
The US Central Command confirmed it began striking IRGC targets in Iran yesterday.
It said: ‘The strikes follow recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members deployed to the region.’
The Strait of Hormuz is at the heart of the drawn-out conflict, with shipping regularly disrupted due to the threat of attacks, with impact felt in fuel prices and consumer goods around the world.
Brent crude, the international marker for oil prices, traded at over $96 per barrel yesterday, compared to around $68 per barrel at the same time last year.
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