US strikes expand to northern Iran as Tehran fires on Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan

Welcome to our continuing live coverage of the Middle East crisis.

The US military says it carried out a fresh wave of strikes against Iranian targets to degrade the country’s ability to threaten ships transiting the strait of Hormuz, while Iran launched retaliatory attacks on US allies in the region.

US Central Command (Centcom) said targets included the southern port city of Bandar Abbas – home ⁠to key ​facilities belonging to the Iranian navy and Revolutionary Guards – in the strikes overnight to Thursday morning local time. “The US military is holding Iran accountable at the commander in chief’s direction,” it said, referring to president Donald Trump.

Iranian state media said the strikes also hit around Tehran – the first time the capital has been targeted in the latest round of attacks.

Iran targeted US-allied Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan with missiles and drones in retaliation.

Centcom said US aircraft fired missiles into an oil tanker’s smokestack in the Hormuz strait, disabling the vessel, after it ignored multiple warnings as it tried to violate the US naval blockade of Iran’s ports.

Trump ⁠said ⁠he did not ​like giving deadlines ⁠when asked by ⁠reporters if Tehran ‌had a ‌deadline before the US started attacking Iranian bridges, as he has threatened. “They know ​the story … ​They ​better ​behave,” ​he said.

Tehran’s top negotiator said that ⁠if Iran ⁠did ​not benefit from its memorandum of ⁠understanding with the US, “we have no reason ⁠to adhere to such an ​understanding”. Iran had “never welcomed war, nor do we now”, ⁠said Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the parliamentary speaker. He called on Iranians to continue with their armed resistance but to also “use the tools of diplomacy and negotiation to achieve and consolidate national interests”.

Iranian state media reported explosions in several cities amid the latest US strikes, including Bandar Abbas, Rask, Chabahar and Ahvaz as well as Semnan province, home to the country’s ballistic missile production and space programme. Reports also cited blasts around southern sites including Qeshm and Bandar Imam Khomeini, as well as in Bushehr, home to Iran’s only civilian nuclear plant.

The US strikes hit an Iranian army barracks, killed at least seven troops and wounded hundreds of people across the country, according to Iranian officials. There was no immediate word on casualties from Iran’s strikes, but its health ministry said at least 30 people had been killed and 260 injured in southern Iran in US attacks in recent days.

Iran’s army said it used kamikaze drones to target US military communication systems and fuel storage facilities in Jordan. The Jordanian military said it shot down eight missiles Iran launched at the kingdom.

Trump thanked Iran for allowing an American citizen he says was “wrongfully detained in December of 2024” to leave the country. “She is now safely outside of Iran, and in good condition,” he said, while the woman was named by her lawyer as Dena Karari, a dual American and Iranian citizen.

Oil prices continued to rise amid the latest waves of escalation, with Brent crude oil – the international standard – trading above $85 a barrel on Wednesday. That’s more than 15% higher than the price before the war but still well below the nearly $120 reached at the peak of the conflict.