US, Iran unleash biggest barrage since July as Tehran strikes Gulf bases

WASHINGTON – Iran and its Arab neighbours were plunged back into war on Sept 2 by the biggest exchange of fire between Tehran and Washington since July, with American forces striking Iran’s southern coast and Iran firing at US bases across the region.

The United States threatened more devastating strikes.

Iran accused the US military of hitting a wedding party, killing five people and wounding dozens.

Asian and European stocks fell after the renewed US air strikes.

Oil prices rose to levels unseen since July, compounding the economic impact of a global sell-off in bonds as disrupted energy supplies fuel inflation worldwide.

The US military’s Central Command said it struck Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) air defences, radar systems, maritime assets, mine-laying capabilities and communications sites on Sept 1.

Iran reported hits on multiple targets near the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway where Tehran has threatened tankers attempting to pass without its permission.

Iran responded by striking what it said were American assets in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Iraq. It said its aim is now to drive US forces out of the vast network of military bases they have maintained for decades across the Middle East.

“American evil in the region will be met with heavier, more widespread and devastating responses, and any country that cooperates with the aggressive American army must accept its dangerous consequences,” Iran’s military command said.

Jordan’s military said it dealt with 13 missiles, 10 of which were intercepted while three fell in remote areas. The IRGC said it killed a large number of American soldiers in Jordan, but US officials said there was no casualty, according to initial assessments.

Iran said it carried out a missile and drone attack on the vast Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait and targeted the accommodation of a US commander.

Kuwait’s fire service said crews put out a blaze at a residential complex early on Sept 2 that was struck by an Iranian drone, causing damage but no casualties.

Qatar, home of the largest US airbase in the Gulf, said it “holds the Islamic Republic of Iran fully legally responsible for these attacks and their repercussions and consequences”.

Bahrain, which houses the regional headquarters of the US Navy, said Iranian drones were intercepted and destroyed.

The IRGC said its ground forces carried out combined missile and drone attacks on US bases in Erbil in northern Iraq, claiming to have killed several US personnel there. Neither Iraq nor the US confirmed the attack.

Iran also said two tankers were struck by mines while being steered across the Strait of Hormuz by US vessels through a channel that Tehran said it has closed.

Washington said that, despite Iranian attacks, it is guiding ships through the strait.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said more than 17 million barrels of oil exited on Aug 31.

Saudi Arabia’s national shipping company reported on Sept 2 that two Filipino crew members were killed aboard an oil tanker in Hormuz two days earlier.

‘Constantly worried’

Iranians who have endured US strikes for much of the past six months are fearful that the war may restart at full throttle.

“It’s very difficult to live like this. We don’t know when America will strike. My family and I are constantly worried about where it will strike,” said Mahpari, 28, a woman in the port city of Bandar Abbas.

Iran reported at least 12 deaths from the US strikes, with five people, including a four-year-old, said to have been killed while celebrating a wedding at a home in Sirik, a town along the coast of the strait.

Iranian media said as many as 68 people were wounded there, releasing images of several injured children in hospital.

In response, the US military said it “never targets civilians, unlike the Revolutionary Guards”.

Iranian officials compared the incident with a strike on a girls’ school that killed 160 people, mostly children, on the war’s first night.

Video filmed by Iran’s West Asia News Agency at the purported site showed rubble strewn across rooms and a courtyard of a home. A pair of strappy women’s dress sandals lay abandoned on a blood-soaked carpet.

“I am just glad the casualties weren’t even worse,” said Ali Molahi, identified as the father of the bride.

The exchange of fire was the worst since July, when US President Donald Trump abruptly halted two weeks of intense bombing of Iran after warnings from his military brass that they were using up munitions and running out of meaningful targets.

Iran’s war-battered economy and degraded conventional forces have left it stretched thin, while Washington has used up much of its stocks of air defence munitions and burned through its precision long-range missiles.

Still, Trump, who has yet to achieve the aims he set when launching Operation Epic Fury in February – to end Iran’s nuclear programme, deprive it of the ability to strike its neighbours and create conditions for Iranians to topple their rulers – repeated his declarations that victory was at hand.

“I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz strait, and their economy totally collapsing,” he said on Sept 1. “They are just playing out the inevitable. When are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight?”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington was looking at targeting airlines, the maritime industry and digital assets as part of a campaign to increase economic pressure on Tehran.

Sources say Trump aides are trying to keep the war quiet for now to avert a rout in congressional elections in November. A Reuters/Ipsos poll in late August showed Americans opposed the war by more than a two-to-one margin.

Iran, for its part, is determined to humble US forces and emerge from the war stronger than ever, with sanctions lifted, billions in blocked funds released, and its newfound grip over Hormuz letting it collect fees from ships that carried a fifth of global oil before the war.

Trump agreed to many of Tehran’s demands in a June deal, but the ceasefire collapsed within weeks over control of the strait, and no talks between the foes have been held since. REUTERS