The interceptions come after the US military said it had completed ‘a heavy wave of strikes against Iran,’ conducted in response to an earlier Iranian missile attack on a US base in Jordan
Jordan’s air defences shot down five missiles launched from Iran Thursday morning, the country’s state-run Petra news agency said, hours after the US military announced it had completed “a heavy wave of strikes against Iran” in response to an earlier Iranian missile attack on a US base in Jordan.
No casualties were reported from Jordan’s interception of the missiles, the news agency quoted the spokesman for the country’s armed forces as saying.
The US Central Command said in a social media post that for over two hours the United States had struck “dozens” of targets belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, including military command centres as well as missile and drone facilities, and coastal surveillance and defence sites.
The new strikes came hours after US President Donald Trump vowed to hit Iran “very hard” after it targeted a base in Jordan that hosts US troops.
Iran’s official IRNA news agency said three people were killed and two were wounded in a strike on the island of Qeshm, which lies just off the Iranian mainland in the Strait of Hormuz.
The latest barrage came after the US partnered with Saudi Arabia to strike Iran-backed militias in neighbouring Iraq, killing at least 20 fighters and six Iranian advisers on Wednesday.
The flare-ups on multiple fronts after several days of relative calm raised the risk of a return to all-out war. It also underscored the difficulty of winding down a five-month conflict that has jolted the world economy and is unpopular among Americans. The fighting was likely to add to concerns that the US is further drawing down already diminished stockpiles of sophisticated munitions needed to defend its bases and allies.
Fires were reported on two natural gas vessels in an Egyptian port Elsewhere, British maritime security firm Ambrey said drone strikes ignited fires on two natural gas vessels at the Egyptian port of Damietta. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the strikes on a US-owned floating storage facility and a Greek-owned tanker. No injuries were reported.
Egypt, a close US ally and regional mediator, is one of the only countries in the Middle East to have been spared direct military action during the war. A strike by Iran or its allies, if confirmed, would mark a significant widening of the conflict.
Asked during an Oval Office event if Iran was responsible for the strikes on the natural gas vessels, Trump responded: “It’s a little more of the same.” “In the meantime, we’re going to be hitting them very hard because it’s our turn to hit them,” he added.
Saudi Arabia accuses Iraqi militias of targeting its oil facilities Saudi Arabia had accused the Iraqi militias of firing drones against its oil facilities over the past few days. An umbrella group of Iraqi militias initially denied the allegations, while another Iran-backed group – the Houthis in Yemen – said they had attacked Saudi energy facilities as part of a separate but related conflict.
Saudi Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman met separately on Wednesday with Trump and Vice President JD Vance, according to two people familiar with the matter who were not authorised to comment publicly about the private meetings.
They said the Saudi decision to join the US attacks against the Iraqi militias was meant to send a message to Iran that it wouldn’t tolerate Iran or its proxies targeting the Saudi oil industry and other critical infrastructure. At the same time, the defence minister underscored to Trump and Vance that the Saudis want to see a de-escalation in the war and for Washington and Tehran to return to negotiations.
Before the latest eruption, mediators had expressed optimism about bringing the US and Iran back to the negotiating table. An interim agreement collapsed in recent weeks over renewed fighting in the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for global energy supplies that Iranian attacks have again effectively closed.
A regional official said mediators are “still trying with both sides” to restore calm and get the ceasefire back on track. He gave no details on whether progress was being made and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door diplomacy.
Attacks on Saudi oil facilities could worsen the global energy crisis Saudi Arabia is also locked in a renewed conflict with the Houthis. The rebels have declared a blockade of Saudi shipping that could choke off another crucial Middle East trade route, the Bab el-Mandeb strait from the Red Sea into the Gulf of Aden.
On Monday, the Houthis said they had launched drones targeting oil facilities used to transport oil across Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea port city of Yanbu, a key bypass for Saudi exports blocked by Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.
The rebels said the attack was in response to a Saudi drone they said had breached Yemen’s airspace.
Planet Labs satellite imagery from Monday, analysed by The Associated Press, showed damage to Saudi Aramco’s Abqaiq oil-processing facility. The massive facility is capable of processing approximately 7 million barrels of crude oil per day.
