US pounds Iran, Tehran strikes back at bases in biggest exchange since July
WASHINGTON/DUBAI − Iranians and their Arab neighbors feared a return of war after the biggest exchange of fire between Tehran and Washington since July as U.S. forces struck Iran's southern coast and Iran fired at American bases across the region.
The United States threatened more devastating strikes. Iran accused Washington of striking a wedding party, killing four people and wounding dozens.
Asian and European stocks tumbled after the renewed U.S. airstrikes, which pushed oil prices back up to levels unseen since July.
The U.S. military said it struck air defences, radar systems, maritime assets, mine-laying capabilities and communications sites Sept. 1. Iran reported hits on multiple targets near the Strait of Hormuz.
"Last night was like the end of the world," Mahmoud, 38, a municipal worker in Sirik County along the strait, told Reuters by telephone, describing attacks on the area, which includes the city where the wedding party was reported to have been hit.
Iran responded by striking what it said were U.S. assets in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Iraq. Tehran said its aim was now to drive U.S. forces from the vast network of military bases they have occupied 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.
Iran said it had killed American service members in Jordan and at a base in northern Iraq, but U.S. officials told Reuters there had not been any casualties, according to initial assessments.
Iran said it had carried out a missile and drone attack on the vast U.S. Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait and targeted the residence of a U.S. commander. Kuwait’s fire service said it put out a blaze at a residential complex struck by a drone.
Qatar, home of the largest U.S. air base in the Persian Gulf, said it held Iran responsible for attacks and their repercussions. Bahrain, which houses the regional headquarters of the U.S. Navy, said Iranian drones were intercepted and destroyed.
Iran also said two tankers had been struck by mines while being steered through the Strait of Hormuz by U.S. forces.
Washington says that despite Iranian attacks, it is guiding ships through the strait. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said more than 17 million barrels of oil exited the strait Aug. 31.
Saudi Arabia's national shipping company reported Sept. 2 that two Filipino crew members had been killed aboard an oil tanker in the strait two days earlier.
Iran says wedding struck
Iranians were fearful that the new strikes signaled war could 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 will it strike,” Mahpari, 28, a woman in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, told Reuters by phone.
Iran reported at least 12 deaths from the night of U.S. strikes. It said four people, including a 4-year-old child, were killed at a wedding at a home in Sirik.
Earlier reports put the death toll there at five. Iranian media said as many as 68 people were wounded in the strike, and it released images of injured children in a hospital.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the incident.
U.S. Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for Central Command, said: "We are aware of reports, which originated from Iranian state media. The U.S. military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC," Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
Video filmed by Iran's West Asia News Agency at the purported site showed rubble strewn across rooms and a courtyard. A pair of strappy women's dress sandals lay 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.
Iranian officials compared the incident to a strike on a girls' school that killed 160 people on the war's first night. The Pentagon has not released the findings of an investigation into that attack, which would be the U.S. military's largest civilian casualty incident in decades.
Conflict is draining both sides
The exchange of fire was the worst since July, when 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.
Trump, who has yet to achieve the aims he set when launching Operation Epic Fury in February − to end Iran's nuclear program, deprive it of the ability to strike its neighbors and create conditions for the Iranian people 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 Sept. 1.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington was looking at targeting airlines, the maritime industry and digital assets as part of a campaign to further increase economic pressure on Tehran.
Sources have told Reuters that Trump aides were trying to keep the war quiet for now to avert a rout in congressional elections in November. Polls show Americans oppose the war by more than a 2-1 margin.
Iran, for its part, is determined to emerge from the war stronger than before, with sanctions lifted, blocked funds released, and a newfound grip over the strait letting it collect fees from ships that normally carry a fifth of global oil.
Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington and Ahmed Tolba in Cairo. Contributing: Parisa Hafezi and Jana Choukeir in Dubai, Idrees Ali and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington, and Yasmine Ghania and Muhammad Al Gebaly in Cairo