TEHRAN, Iran — Hostilities between the United States and Iran escalated overnight into Wednesday, with Tehran attacking American bases across the Middle East after a U.S. strike was alleged to have hit a home hosting a wedding event, killing five and wounding dozens.
President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social Tuesday that the U.S. had launched a wave of “large and powerful” strikes on Iranian targets near the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for what he said was a “failed attempt” at laying mines along the vital trade route.
Trump told reporters at the Oval Office on Wednesday that the U.S. military could attack again.
“It was a very heavy attack last night, and we’re prepared to do another one any time we want,” he said.
U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM, said Tuesday it had carried out attacks on Iranian military targets, including air defense sites, radar systems, maritime assets and facilities, communication sites and mine-laying capabilities.
The Iranian Red Crescent later said five people had been killed and nearly 70 injured after a U.S. strike hit what it called a “wedding celebration” in the city of Kuhestak, on the Strait of Hormuz, according to the semiofficial Fars news agency. The regional Red Crescent said at least one child was among those killed.
NBC News was not immediately able to independently confirm the details of the strike.
In video published by the Iranian Red Crescent Society and geolocated to Kuhestak by NBC News, a building can be seen surrounded by rubble, with a gaping hole blown through its roof. Other footage appears to show a downed telecommunications tower just a few minutes’ walk away from the building.
CENTCOM spokesperson Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins said he was aware of reports of civilian casualties.
The “U.S. military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC,” he said, referring to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
In response, the IRGC said it had launched a wave of strikes targeting U.S. bases across the region, including in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait. In a statement, the IRGC said the strikes were in retaliation to the U.S. bombing, which it described as a “flagrant violation of human rights” that turned what it described as an “engagement” event into a “mourning ceremony.”
The IRGC also said it had targeted bases in Jordan.
The Kuwaiti army said in a post on X early Thursday local time that it was defending against an attack.
“Kuwaiti Air Defenses are currently responding to hostile missile and drone threats,” the Kuwaiti army wrote in the post.
In a separate statement, the IRGC said that four members of its own aerospace forces were also killed in Kermanshah, a city in the central district of Kermanshah province, in U.S. strikes overnight, the semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported.
“Make no mistake: these crimes will not go unpunished,” Ebrahim Azizi, chairperson of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said on X.
If the Islamic Republic retaliates, Trump had warned, “they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level, but it will not be the biggest attack of them all, that is waiting in the wings.” When that is over, he added, “there will be very little left” of the country.
The latest bout of violence, which began on Sunday with an American bombing of a key island in the Strait of Hormuz, has ended a monthlong lull in fighting between the U.S. and Iran.
