US, Iran trade attacks amid rising tensions

WASHINGTON/TEHRAN -- The United States has launched strikes against 80 Iranian targets, and in response, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps attacked 85 US military sites in Bahrain, Kuwait, in a new round of escalation of regional tensions.

The United States completed a new round of strikes against Iran, hitting over 80 targets, the US Central Command said Tuesday evening.

Iran's state-run Press TV reported renewed explosions on its Qeshm island, with several blasts being heard on Kharg island.

Iran's top joint military command said that its armed forces will give a "crushing response" to US attacks and will not allow US interference in the management of the Strait of Hormuz.

Press TV reported on Wednesday that heavy explosions rocked Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait. Moreover, multiple explosions were heard in Bahrain on Wednesday, and the interior ministry said sirens had sounded in the country.

Iranian Parliament Speaker and top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Wednesday that violations of "Iranian adjustments" in the Strait of Hormuz, continued threats of further strikes, the reinstatement of oil sanctions, attacks on southern Iran, and continued Israeli aggression on Lebanon constitute major MoU violations by the United States.

"The era of bullying and extortion is over. It leads nowhere," he wrote in a post on X.

The US Central Command said earlier that US forces launched strikes against Iran after three commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz were attacked.

The attack on the three oil tankers also triggered the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control to revoke a license on Tuesday that had authorized the sale of Iranian-origin oil until Aug 21.