(Reuters)
DUBAI/WASHINGTON, June 10 – Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had carried out missile and drone attacks on U.S. military bases in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain on Wednesday in retaliation for American strikes on Iranian targets around the Strait of Hormuz.
The exchange, after U.S. President Donald Trump said that Iran had downed a U.S. Apache helicopter near the strait, marks one of the most significant escalations since Washington and Tehran agreed to a ceasefire in April.
“I believe the response should be very strong, very powerful, and that’s what this one is,” Trump told ABC News on Tuesday.
The U.S. military said it targeted Iranian air defences, ground control stations and surveillance radar sites in what it described as a “proportional response” to the downing of the helicopter, whose two crew members were rescued.
The tit-for-tat attacks, just days after Iran exchanged fire with Israel for the first time since the ceasefire, cast fresh doubt on prospects for a deal to end the war, which began on February 28 with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tehran would “reassess” its diplomatic engagement with Washington after “repeated ceasefire violations”.
“Any diplomatic process requires a minimum stable environment,” Esmaeil Baghaei said.
The U.S. strikes lasted around four hours, with Central Command saying shortly before 9 p.m. ET (0100 GMT Wednesday) that operations had ended. A U.S. official said nearly 20 Iranian targets were hit.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Qeshm Island and the port city of Sirik were attacked. Iranian media also reported explosions in Bandar Abbas, another port city, and later near Jask at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz.
