Iran says it responded with missiles to US attack despite Trump’s threats

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it launched a missile attack against a United States Marines base in Jordan in response to earlier US strikes, defying a warning by President Donald Trump to stand down.

The IRGC said that the US military had struck a wedding in the southern Iranian city of Sirik on Tuesday, killing several people, including a child.

“In response to this brutal evil, the brave fighters of the IRGC Aerospace Force … launched a heavy ballistic missile attack on the American Marines’ barracks in Jordan, known as Camp Titin,” it said.

The IRGC claimed that the missile hit a large number of troops, military installations and attack helicopter.

The Iranian response tests Trump’s latest threat and risks further escalation in the conflict. The US president had said that if Iran retaliates against the American strikes, it would “be hit again at a much harder and higher level”.

The fighting had resumed earlier on Tuesday when the US military bombed several targets in southern Iran.

The Middle East-based Central Command (CENTCOM) of the US military had said that it struck IRGC sites.

“The strikes follow recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members deployed to the region,” CENTCOM said.

Iranian semiofficial news agency Tasnim reported explosions in the south of the country, including in Konarak, Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island.

Iran’s Fars news agency said one strike hit a home in Sirik that was hosting a wedding celebration, killing at least four people.

Trump said the strikes on Tuesday were “large and powerful”. He told Fox News that Iran would be “totally wiped out as a country” if the exchange of attacks continue.

The US president has repeatedly issued similar threats since the start of the war in February.

The US State Department urged Americans in the Middle East on Tuesday to remain alert and prepare for travel disruptions, warning of “the potential for unforeseen escalation”.

“Americans traveling to and from the region should monitor information about airport and airline operations,” the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the State Department said in a statement.

“Iran and groups supportive of Iran may target U.S. interests overseas or at locations associated with the United States and Americans throughout the world, including U.S. businesses and other institutions.”

Tuesday’s strikes follow an exchange of attacks on Sunday when the US military struck Larak Island in southern Iran and Tehran retaliated with missile launches against a base housing American troops in Jordan.

Trump had promised to hit Iran “hard” in response to the clashes on Sunday.

The fighting saw the first attacks by both countries since July. The Trump administration had said that it was shifting its strategy from military strikes to intense economic pressure on Iran.

The US has imposed a naval siege on Iranian ports while threatening Tehran’s trade partners with secondary sanctions.

On Tuesday, US Treasury Scott Bessent said the US would widen its sanctions on a weekly basis, adding that Washington would likely announce a new bank sanction this week with a similar measure to follow next week. He said the US was also looking at targeting airline leasing companies and other entities that do business with the IRGC.

Iran, meanwhile, has continued to assert its control over Hormuz – a major artery for the global energy trade.

Attacks on ships around the strait have been reported almost daily, despite Trump and his aides saying that the US is managing to get millions of barrels of oil through the strait daily despite the Iranian blockade.

On Monday, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said an oil tanker was hit by three “unknown projectiles” while transiting through Hormuz.

The crisis in Hormuz has sent energy prices soaring. The price of a barrel of oil jumped by more than four percent after the strikes on Tuesday.

In the US, the average cost of one gallon (3.8 liter) of petrol is now more than $4, up from less than $3 before the war.