Iran launches retaliatory strikes with missiles and drones; Trump warns of ‘much harder’ attack

Iran has started firing missiles and drones in response to US strikes on Tuesday, reported Iranian semiofficial media outlets after American forces pounded several areas in the Islamic Republic while targeting IRGC centres for the second time in three days.

Iran’s Fars and Tasnim news agencies, which are close to Tehran’s security forces, reported late Tuesday that the Iranian forces had launched retaliatory operations. There were reports of explosions being seen over the southern Jordanian city of Aqaba after Iran said it was retaliating for US strikes.

The IRGC said its fighters have begun a “regretful response to the aggressors” as the US continues its attacks on southern Iran, reported state broadcaster IRIB.

The IRGC said in a statement, “In blind and desperate attacks”, the US bombed several locations, including civilian areas.

“The brave warriors of the IRGC have begun a regretful response to the aggressors, and in the first action, using the new aerospace defence system, they shot down the 50th advanced MQ9 drone of the invading American army,” it claimed.

“Attacks that tightened the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and strengthened the determination of the fighters to suppress the foreign forces interfering in the Strait of Hormuz,” the IRGC added.

‘US will regret new strikes’: IRGC

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard vowed to make the US regret its latest attacks, even as President Donald Trump warned Tehran against striking back.

“Severe punishment awaits the aggressors; the United States will regret its new attacks,” said IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebi in a post on social media, after explosions were heard in multiple areas along and east of the Strait of Hormuz.

‘US bases, assets in region to be targeted’: Iranian media

Iran’s armed forces announced that US bases and interests in the region are being hit by missiles and drones as they launched an operation in response to the US strikes.

Iran’s Fars news agency reported that a US strike targeted a residential area in the coastal city of Kuhestak in the Hormozgan governorate.

US forces targeted Bandar Abbas, Qeshm Island, Konarak, Chabahar, Jask, Sirik, Lavan and Asluyeh in southern Iran.

Washington began striking targets in Iran at 12pm EST (16:00 GMT), according to CENTCOM.

US CENTCOM said in a post on X, “Today at 12 pm ET, US forces began striking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets in Iran. 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.”

‘Gulf allies notified before US strikes on Iran’: Trump

The US president claimed that Gulf allies were notified before the latest round of US strikes on Iran. Speaking to Fox News, Trump also warned Iran against retaliating, adding that the USS George Washington “is loaded to the gills”.

Trump said the US military had been monitoring Iran’s efforts to rebuild radar systems and waited until the work was almost completed before carrying out the strikes.

“The United States is, as we speak, striking Iranian Targets near the Strait of Hormuz. The strikes are large and powerful, and in retaliation for the Iranians’ failed attempt at adding sea mines to the Strait, and the Iranians shooting eight missiles, all successfully knocked down, at our Military Base in Jordan,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“If the failed Nation of Iran retaliates for this very justified attack, 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 and, when it is over, there will be very little left of the Islamic Republic of Iran!” Trump said.

‘We gave them a lot of chances’: Trump

President Trump warned Iran against retaliating against the US for Tuesday's strikes. “If they retaliate, they'll be hit much harder. And if they do it again, they'll be no longer,” the president told Fox News.

Asked whether he's still interested in a deal with Iran, the president said, “I think an agreement with them isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. We gave them a lot of chances.”