Iranian authorities said US strikes killed at least 11 people in two separate attacks, as Washington and Tehran returned to intensified military exchanges following a period of relative calm.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said a US missile attack struck three locations in the southwestern province of Khuzestan overnight, killing seven people and injuring eight others. The figures were attributed to the province’s deputy governor for security and law enforcement affairs.
The Khuzestan strikes followed a separate US attack in Sirik, in southern Iran, where Iranian authorities said a wedding gathering was hit, killing five people and wounding around 50.
The latest casualties came as the United States and Iran exchanged some of their most significant attacks in weeks, with Washington warning that further strikes could follow and Tehran accusing US forces of causing civilian casualties.
The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said it had completed a wave of strikes against targets associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Tuesday.
According to CENTCOM, the operation targeted air-defence and radar systems, maritime assets and facilities, mine-laying capabilities and communications infrastructure.
Iranian media reported strikes at several locations across the country, including areas near the Strait of Hormuz, the strategically important waterway at the centre of continuing tensions over maritime traffic and Iran’s restrictions on vessels passing through it.
Iran subsequently announced retaliatory attacks against US assets in Jordan and Iraq, while Iranian media also reported an attack on Bahrain.
The Revolutionary Guards claimed that a large number of US personnel had been killed in the attack in Jordan. However, two US officials told Reuters that initial assessments indicated no American casualties. The conflicting claims could not immediately be independently reconciled.
The renewed exchanges have raised concerns of another significant escalation between Washington and Tehran, particularly around the Strait of Hormuz and US military installations across the region.