Iran and the United States traded threats on Wednesday after some of the heaviest fighting in weeks engulfed the Middle East, deepening the foes’ stalemate six months into the war.
President Donald Trump said US forces staged a “very heavy attack” on Iranian targets overnight and are “prepared to do another one any time we want”.
Tehran’s security chief warned that Iran had adopted a “new strategy” in the war that began in late February with US-Israeli attacks on the Islamic Republic.
“You will soon see that Iran’s new strategy on the battlefield, in diplomacy and in confronting the economic blockade will shatter your foundations,” Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei wrote on X.
Washington has vowed to ramp up economic pressure on Iran, threatening its allies with sanctions.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright pledged on Wednesday that a plan for expanded sanctions targeting Iran’s economic partners would deliver “absolutely maximum pressure”.
Trump also suggested on Wednesday renaming the Strait of Hormuz, the vital oil waterway that Tehran has effectively shut for six months, as “Trump Strait” — although he implied later that he wasn’t serious .
“Now that we have it under U.S.A. control, should we change the name Hormuz Strait to TRUMP STRAIT???” the US president said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran targeted US bases in Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region after extensive US bombardment on Tuesday of sites across Iran.
Tehran reacted with fury after the Iranian Red Crescent said a US attack that hit a wedding in Iran’s south killed four people, including a child, and wounded more than 50 people.
“The truth of this unlawful war of choice — and the true face of the war crime — is in Sirik, where a wedding ceremony was brutally bombed as part of America’s desperate struggle to conceal its failure,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei posted on X.
The US military did not address the incident directly.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) spokesman Tim Hawkins said “the US military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC,” referring to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
– ‘Acts like Satan’ –
Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf lashed out at Washington over the wedding attack, calling the United States “Satan.”
“If a power acts like Satan, picks targets like Satan, and kills like Satan, it’s Satan,” he posted on X.
The latest round of fighting began when Washington hit Iranian targets on Sunday, the first known strikes in several weeks.
Tehran’s forces then targeted US troops in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, and projectiles struck two oil tankers in unclaimed attacks, one of which killed two Filipino sailors, according to a Saudi shipping company.
Trump said the US strikes were in retaliation for an Iranian attempt to plant sea mines in the Strait and for firing missiles at a base in Jordan.
Iranians expressed regret at the return to hostilities.
Hossein Moazami, 50, who is self-employed, called the attacks “truly distressing.”
“I hope they all return to the negotiating table because the only people suffering from this are the Iranian people,” he said. “The Americans are on the other side of the world and nothing happens to them.”
A video shared by an Iranian government account showed debris and damage at what it said was the wedding site in Sirik following the US strike, with people heard screaming in the background.
“It is a very saddening incident…Thank God the casualties were not higher,” Ali Mallahi, father of the bride and owner of the building that was hit, said in a video carried by state TV.
The war began February 28 with US-Israeli attacks on Iran that killed its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
A fragile ceasefire collapsed after attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of world oil supplies previously flowed.
Israel’s defence minister said meanwhile that his country was prepared to respond “with great force” if attacked by Iran over the Jewish high holiday season, which begins in mid-September.
“For now, they are striking throughout the region except us,” Israel Katz told a conference hosted by Israeli media outlets.
