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The Iranian Red Crescent reported that four people including a young child died and more than 50 others were wounded when shrapnel from a US missile struck a residential home hosting a wedding celebration in Kuhestak in Sirik county of Hormozgan province. Deputy governor Ahmad Nafisi had initially told state television that two people were killed in the strike before the toll was revised upward. Iranian government accounts shared video of the scene showing extensive debris and people screaming according to reports carried by the BBC and other international outlets.
US Central Command said the strikes on Revolutionary Guard targets followed recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members in the region. The command confirmed that US forces began the operation at 12:00 ET on Tuesday. US Navy Captain Tim Hawkins speaking for Central Command told the BBC that the American military never targets civilians unlike the IRGC.
Iranian state media reported explosions in multiple locations along and east of the Strait of Hormuz including Qeshm Island Bandar Abbas Jask and Chabahar as well as an attack on a civilian airport in Jiroft according to the BBC. The IRGC announced that it had begun what it termed a regretful response to the aggressors and state broadcaster IRIB said the Guard fired ballistic missiles at a US Marine base in Jordan’s Aqaba. This exchange marked the first known US strikes on Iran since late July Reuters reported.
The latest action forms part of an intermittent six-month conflict that began February 28 2026 when US and Israeli strikes killed supreme leader Ali Khamenei and senior military officials prompting widespread Iranian retaliation across the region as detailed in reporting by the Associated Press and The Guardian. Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz to shipping a chokepoint that handles roughly one-fifth of global energy flows which has driven up prices and complicated international trade according to multiple agency dispatches. Sporadic attacks have continued to focus on the waterway diminishing prospects for any final peace agreement.
President Donald Trump vowed to hit Iran hard and stated on social media that if Iran retaliated they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level according to accounts from AFP. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned of additional sanctions while an IRGC spokesperson was quoted by Fars news agency saying the US will regret its new attacks. Parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf declared that if the enemy wants us not to export oil from the Gulf no-one will be able to export oil and Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei accused Washington of being addicted to making excessive demands.
Brent crude futures which had already risen 2 percent jumped nearly another 2 percent following reports of the strikes market data cited by Reuters showed. The US Embassy in a Gulf state urged Americans in the Middle East to exercise heightened vigilance and prepare for possible flight cancellations or airspace closures. PVM analyst John Evans was quoted describing the tit-for-tat missile exchanges as likely to continue if not amounting to a forever war.
