Middle East crisis latest: US carries out strikes across Iran as Tehran targets American bases in region

US missiles struck targets across Iran on Friday after Donald Trump vowed “major military punishment” for Tehran and its Houthi allies in Yemen for extending the Middle East war to a second major shipping chokepoint, the mouth of the ⁠Red Sea. US Central Command said it targeted Iranian military command centres, communication networks, drone storage facilities, coastal surveillance sites and maritime capabilities.

​Iranian armed forces responded by firing a wave of retaliatory attacks on at US bases in neighbouring Arab countries and warning people there that they may strike non-military buildings used by US personnel. The Iranian army said it used drones to target facilities in Bahrain and Jordan, with attacks also reported in Kuwait and Iraq. The IRGC warned civilians in the Middle East to stay away from US forces, state media reported.

The head of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya central military command, Ali Abdollahi, threatened US military personnel in the region on Friday, saying Iran had “prepared free, one-way tickets to hell for you” . “For every proud citizen of the Islamic Republic of Iran who is martyred, one American service member will be sent to hell,” he was quoted as saying by the state broadcaster.

Iran pushed back on a New York Times (paywall) report from Thursday that Tehran had rejected a US ceasefire deal presented by the Iraqi prime minister, calling the report “completely diversionary and misleading,” according to state media IRNA. The NYT reported that the proposal was the only one on the table, and Tehran was not interested in a temporary deal which left the question of control of the strait of Hormuz unresolved, citing Iranian officials. Baghdad has also denied the NYT report.

Trump said that in recent meetings with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, both leaders assured the US president separately that they would not sell weapons to Iran . The US president added: “Two major countries that people speak of often in terms of Iran are, in my opinion, not participating. If they did, it would be very bad for them – certainly not in their best interests.”