The United States and Iran traded fire in the Middle East on Wednesday, as officials from both nations questioned efforts to end the war as it threatened to spiral out of control again.
The US launched its 11th airstrikes on the Islamic Republic, hitting the entire country as air defense systems opened fire on the capital, Tehran. It was not immediately clear what specific objectives the Americans pursued in the nighttime strikes.
Iran retaliated by firing a missile and a drone targeting the Jordanian city of Aqaba, and attacked Israel’s door. The US has been using Israel’s main Ben-Gurion International Airport to host its refueling flights and base warplanes in the country, but Iran has been reluctant to strike for fear of drawing Israeli forces back into the conflict.
A missile alert sounded in Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia warned residents of the Persian Gulf city of Dammam to seek shelter. Iran has repeatedly attacked Gulf countries in response to US attacks. Saudi authorities later lifted the warning in Dammam, saying the danger had passed, without elaborating.
Meanwhile, shipping has largely stagnated in the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow inlet of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all peacetime oil and natural gas has been traded. Iran’s attacks on ships in that waterway have prompted a recent series of attacks, and Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels are now threatening Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea.
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That pressure pushed benchmark Brent crude above US$94 a barrel in trade, further weighing on global energy and raising fuel costs in the United States ahead of midterm elections this fall.
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The attack shook Iran and Jordan
An alarm sounded on Wednesday in the Jordanian port city of Aqaba. The Jordanian military said it intercepted four missiles during the Iranian attack, while two others landed in “uninhabited areas.” A plume of smoke can be seen above Aqaba in videos recorded by people in the nearby Israeli city of Eilat. Jordan said it also seized four Iranian drones.
The US military said early Wednesday it had completed an 11th night of strikes in Iran. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported that the explosion shook the provinces of Bushehr, East Azerbaijan, Hamadan, Hormozgan, Ilam, Khuzestan and Sistan and Baluchistan. The US has said its targets include aircraft hangars and drone storage facilities.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have insisted that the country’s retaliatory attacks will continue.
Before the latest strikes, Iran’s Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni visited Pakistan, a key mediator in the conflict, seeking to renew talks. But it was not clear what new plan could be reached to end the conflict, which has recently become a battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaking from the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump offered little insight into possible talks, saying the US is “not interested in meeting.” He pointed out that the US military could quickly target Iran’s location near one of its main uranium enrichment facilities.
At a regional conference in the Philippines, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned Iran’s actions in the crisis.
“If we create an example in the Middle East where a nation state can decide to control an international waterway, charge tolls and if you don’t pay, blow up your ships, we have created a very dangerous example that will be repeated in other parts of the world, including this region,” he said.
The US in response to the attack on Iran resumed the embargo on Iranian ports, diverting vessels that trade with Iranian oil.
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