Dubai/Washington, June 11 (SANA) The United States and Iran exchanged air and missile strikes late Wednesday and early Thursday, extending a second consecutive day of hostilities and raising concerns over energy supplies from the Gulf.
President Donald Trump threatened additional military action unless Tehran immediately agrees to a peace deal, while Iran launched attacks on U.S. military targets across the region in response to overnight American strikes.
The U.S. military said it targeted Iranian surveillance capabilities, communications systems and air defense sites, describing the operation as a response to what it called continuing Iranian aggression.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it retaliated by attacking 18 U.S. military targets, including air bases in Kuwait and Bahrain and the headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. It later said it launched 12 ballistic missiles at Jordan’s Azraq Air Base for a second consecutive night.
Kuwait’s military said its air defenses engaged hostile aerial targets, while Bahraini authorities said air defense systems intercepted and destroyed incoming Iranian attacks.
The latest escalation follows the downing of a U.S. Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week, an incident that triggered a new cycle of retaliation between Washington and Tehran.
Oil prices rose about $3 after Trump’s warning of further escalation and extended gains in early Asian trading on Thursday, reflecting market concerns over the security of energy flows through the Gulf.
Trump told Fox News on Wednesday that U.S. strikes would soon stop but warned that intensive bombing would resume unless Iran’s leadership quickly accepted an agreement with Washington.
Iran’s military threatened to target any vessel attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian media reported that two U.S. vessels had come under fire, but U.S. Central Command denied the reports and said commercial shipping continued to transit the strategic waterway.
Iranian news agencies reported explosions in several cities, including Bandar Abbas, Minab, Sirik and Karaj, while authorities accused the United States of striking infrastructure supplying drinking water to several villages.
The conflict, now in its fourth month, has disrupted global energy markets and intensified political pressure on the White House as rising fuel prices weigh on public support for Trump.
Fighting also continued in Lebanon between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group. Lebanese security sources said Israeli airstrikes killed at least 13 people in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, while Hezbollah announced new attacks against Israeli forces.
Iran has said any broader settlement must include an end to Israeli military operations in Lebanon, the lifting of sanctions and the release of frozen Iranian assets. Trump has insisted that any agreement must guarantee Iran cannot develop a nuclear weapon, an ambition Tehran denies pursuing.
IZ/A
