Washington, United States. The United States and Iran exchanged air attacks on Thursday for a second consecutive day, deepening the most serious threat yet to a fragile ceasefire agreed in April. President Donald Trump said further U.S. strikes would follow unless Tehran immediately accepted a peace deal.
Escalation after helicopter downing
The latest escalation began earlier this week after a U.S. Apache helicopter was downed near the Strait of Hormuz, triggering a series of reciprocal attacks across Iran and against U.S. bases in the region.
The renewed hostilities have weakened hopes for a quick end to the war, which began in late February with large-scale joint U.S.-Israeli air strikes on Iran.
U.S. details latest operation
The U.S. military said its latest attacks targeted “military surveillance capabilities, communication systems, and air defense sites across Iran” in response to what it described as Tehran’s “unwarranted and continued aggression.”
Trump told Fox News reporter Trey Yingst on Wednesday evening that the U.S. strikes would stop shortly, but that heavy bombing would resume if Iran’s leaders did not sign an agreement with the United States immediately, according to a post by Yingst on X.
The military’s Central Command said the strikes were complete about four hours after they began, shortly after midnight in Tehran.
Iran says it launched counter-attacks
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it launched counter-attacks on 18 U.S. military targets at airbases in Kuwait and Bahrain, as well as the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.
It later said it had also targeted the al-Azraq air base in Jordan for a second consecutive night, firing 12 ballistic missiles at the U.S. base.
Regional response and markets
Kuwait’s army said the country’s air defences were engaging hostile aerial targets. A media adviser to Bahrain’s king said on X that Bahraini air defences intercepted and destroyed Iranian aerial attacks.
Oil prices rose nearly $3 after Trump’s threat of escalation and extended gains in early Asian trading on Thursday.