President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the renewed US campaign against Iran would not continue for “too long” after the biggest exchange of fire between Tehran and Washington since July.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that Iran was trying to build a rocket that dropped mines and the US had destroyed it. He also said Iran had been working to restore its radar and missile systems, which were also targeted in the US strikes.
“We took out all of the new equipment that they tried to build along the Strait of Hormuz – some defensive, some offensive … It was a very heavy attack last night, and we’re prepared to do another one any time we want,” he said.
Trump suggests renaming Strait of Hormuz ‘Trump Strait’
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested renaming the Strait of Hormuz the “Trump Strait”, even though the crucial waterway remained contested amid escalating tensions with Iran, AFP reported.
“Now that we have it under USA control, should we change the name Hormuz Strait to Trump Strait??? Like America itself, it would be ‘hotter’ than ever before!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.
Iran says 18 killed, 108 wounded in Tuesday’s US attacks
Eighteen people were killed, and 108 others were injured in Iran during Tuesday’s US attacks, Iran’s state-run broadcaster IRIB cited Health Minister Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi as having said on Wednesday.
UN chief ‘gravely concerned’ by renewed US-Iran exchange of fire
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday expressed grave concern over a renewed exchange of fire overnight between the US and Iran, and voiced alarm over reported civilian casualties, including a strike that reportedly hit a wedding ceremony in Iran.
“I can tell the secretary-general is gravely concerned by the renewed exchange of fire overnight between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The secretary-general is deeply alarmed by reports of civilian casualties, including a strike that reportedly hit a wedding ceremony in Iran,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said during a news conference.
“The secretary-general condemns all attacks against civilians. He recalls that all parties must respect their obligations under international humanitarian law, including the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution,” he added.
Dujarric noted that a “few countries in the region are immune to this escalation, with airspace and critical shipping routes continuing to be heavily impacted.”
He said that Guterres “reiterates his call for an immediate cessation of military action and urges all concerned to exercise restraint and refrain from action and rhetoric that could further escalate already high tensions.”
Dujarric also warned that “further escalations, as you can imagine, would have devastating consequences for civilians and the wider region and beyond,” noting that humanitarian operations in the region were “already overstretched and underfunded.”
He said the UN chief “urges the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran to return urgently to diplomacy,” adding: “A comprehensive and durable settlement can be achieved only through dialogue and negotiations.”
Bessent says US will ‘sever every tie’ Iran has with the outside world
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday that Washington would “sever every tie” Iran has with other countries, as part of its economic pressure campaign.
In an interview on Fox News, Bessent urged people to “stay away”, adding that the fastest way to end the war was if nobody supported Iran.
“We are going to sever every tie that they (Iran) have from the outside world,” Bessent said, citing the example of US economic action against an Egyptian bank’s branches in Dubai.
“We have created new authorities for Treasury to sanction airlines, maritime, digital assets, so this is all hands on deck,” he added, noting that teams from the Treasury and State Department were having “fullsome talks” with any actor supporting Tehran.
Baghaei slams CENTCOM claims denying the targeting of civilians
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei on Wednesday slammed claims by US Central Command (CENTCOM) that it did not target civilians, after a US strike on a wedding in southern Iran left four dead.
In a post on X, Baghaei took aim at CENTCOM spokesperson Tim Hawkins and alleged that he “has forgotten his own military record”, listing examples of drone strikes in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“He has forgotten something else as well: even ‘Homeland’, an American-produced television series, portrayed, in its fourth season, a US drone strike on a wedding … an attack that killed around 40 civilians,” he wrote on X, attaching a clip from the show.
“The reality is so horrifying that even American propaganda has never dared to make the claim Hawkins is making today. Sirik is not a story. The civilians are real. The victims are real,” Baghaei added.
Qatar condemns Iranian attack on Saudi tanker, rejects use of Strait of Hormuz as ‘bargaining chip’
Qatar on Wednesday condemned an Iranian attack on a Saudi tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz, which led to the deaths of two crew members, Al Jazeera reported.
Doha’s foreign ministry said that it “renews the State of Qatar’s categorical rejection of the use of the Strait of Hormuz as a bargaining chip, and in this regard, calls for its reopening without conditions”, emphasising the need to halt Iran’s “unjustified attacks on the properties of brotherly countries” and affirming its full solidarity with Saudi Arabia.
Iran’s new strategy to ‘shatter US foundations’: security council secretary
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei on Wednesday warned the United States that it would face a “new strategy” from Tehran that would shatter its foundations, after the heaviest exchange of attacks between the two parties in weeks, AFP reported.
“You will soon see that Iran’s new strategy on the battlefield, in diplomacy, and in confronting the economic blockade will shatter your foundations,” Iran’s security chief wrote on X.
Iran seizes barge for smuggling 382,000 liters of diesel
Iranian authorities on Wednesday seized a foreign barge in Gulf waters for allegedly smuggling about 382,000 liters of diesel fuel and arrested eleven foreigners aboard, state news agency IRNA reported.
IRNA said security forces launched an operation against the vessel after receiving a tip about the smuggling of petroleum products aboard a barge in the northern Gulf.
Iranian border guards in Abadan intercepted the vessel and seized 382,000 liters of diesel, the report said. Eleven foreigners aboard the vessel were also detained, although their nationalities were not disclosed.
There was no immediate official statement from Iranian authorities providing further details about the incident.
Iran calls US strike on wedding as ‘war crime’: foreign ministry
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei on Wednesday called a deadly attack on a wedding ceremony in the south of the country a “war crime”, AFP reported.
“The truth of this unlawful war of choice — and the true face of the war crime — is in Sirik, where a wedding ceremony was brutally bombed as part of America’s desperate struggle to conceal its failure,” Baghaei posted on X.
Iran’s Ghalibaf terms US ‘great satan’ as strikes kill Iranian children
Iran’s Parliamentary Speaker Bagher Ghalibaf on Wednesday called the United States “satan”, citing attacks on children at the Minab school, Lamerd sports hall, and the Kouhestak wedding.
“If power acts like Satan, picks targets like Satan, and kills like Satan, it’s Satan,” Ghalibaf said in a post on X. He added, “Shields a junior Satan that does the same? It’s THE Great Satan.”
Ghalibaf said that Iran was on a “fundamental path against arrogance”, according to the ISNA News Agency.
In a meeting with Hamas officials, he stated, “today, even the governments that love America in the region admit that this country is causing insecurity.”
Ghalibaf added that negotiation was “a tool for struggle”, and that if Iran “[stopped] fighting the United States and the Zionist regime (Israel) in its various forms, that day will be the day of defeat”.
He further added that the US must fulfil its obligations under the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding “so that we can take action to open the Strait of Hormuz”.
Separately, four members of the IRGC Aerospace Force were among seven killed in strikes by the United States in western and southern Iran, Iranian authorities said.
Four members of the IRGC’s Aerospace Force were killed in a US attack in the western Kermanshah province, its provincial branch said in a statement. Separately, three members of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force, affiliated with the IRGC, were killed in an overnight US strike on Lavan Island in the southern Hormozgan province, Iranian media reported.
Deputy Commander of the IRGC’s Seyyed al-Shohada unit in Deyr county, Abdolkarim Pouladifar, said the three were identified as Mahdi Bahrani, Hossein Salehnejad, and Hassan Momeni, according to the Mehr News Agency.
Pouladifar said several other personnel from Deyr were also injured in the attack. Lavan Island, located in Hormozgan province off Iran’s southern coast, is home to oil and energy facilities.
Iranian Red Crescent calls ICC to investigate US strike on Kuhestak wedding ceremony
Iran’s Red Crescent Society (IRCS) called for legal action following last night’s US missile strike on a wedding ceremony in Kuhestak, Hormozgan in a letter to the International Criminal Court, Al Jazeera reported on Wednesday.
“Given the reported civilian character of the location as the venue of a family wedding ceremony, as well as the presence of civilians at the site, the incident raises serious concerns under international humanitarian law and warrants an independent, impartial, thorough, and effective investigation,” the IRCS said.
“Intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause incidental loss of civilian life or injury to civilians that would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated may, subject to the conditions and elements prescribed by the Rome Statute, give rise to individual criminal responsibility under international criminal law,” the statement said.
The organisation added that the attack, which killed four people and wounded 67, could constitute a war crime.
Qatar condemns Iranian attacks on neighbours
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry in a post on X condemned Iranian attacks on neighbouring countries, including Jordan, Bahrain, and Kuwait. The ministry said it considered the attacks “a flagrant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the targeted countries, and a blatant breach of international law, the United Nations Charter, and the principles of good neighbourliness.”
It added that it considered the attacks “a dangerous escalation that could complicate de-escalation efforts and undermine diplomatic and political initiatives aimed at restoring security and stability in the region.”
The ministry stated that it held Iran “fully and legally responsible” for the attacks. It also reaffirmed Qatar’s “full solidarity with the neighbouring countries and its support for all legitimate measures taken to safeguard their sovereignty, security and territorial integrity.”
“The ministry calls for an immediate and complete halt to all military actions and attacks threatening regional security and stability, and urges all sides to avoid steps that could widen the conflict and return to dialogue and negotiations, as well as adherence to understandings reached through diplomatic efforts,” the foreign ministry concluded.
Kuwait stresses de-escalation after Iranian strikes on Bahrain, Jordan
In a post on X, Kuwait expressed its condemnation and strong denunciation of Iranian attacks targeting Bahrain and Jordan, “which constitute a flagrant violation of their sovereignty, and a clear breach of the principles of international law, the United Nations Charter, and Security Council Resolution 2817.”
According to the statement issued by Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry, it emphasised “the necessity of halting these escalatory practices, prioritising the path of de-escalation and dialogue, and adhering to the rules of international law and the principles of good neighbourliness, in a manner that preserves the security and stability of the region and spares its peoples further tension and escalation.”
The ministry reaffirmed solidarity with Bahrain and Jordan, reiterating its support for “all measures taken by each of them to preserve its sovereignty, security, and stability.”
Oil tankers disabled in attempt to transit Strait of Hormuz
Two oil tankers hit sea mines and were disabled while attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz, the IRGC said, in a statement shared by state media.
The statement said the tankers had been forced to disembark their crews and were placed in the hands of US operatives to pass through what it called an “illegal route” in the strategic waterway, despite earlier warnings from the Guards’ navy about the dangers of crossing the mined passage.
Saudi company says Filipino sailors killed transiting Hormuz
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s national shipping company, Bahri, said that two Filipino seafarers were killed in a security incident involving its vessel “SIDR” as it transited through the Strait of Hormuz on August 31.
The company did not disclose further details.
On August 31, maritime security agency UKMTO said a tanker had reported being struck by three unknown projectiles while outbound through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has threatened tankers attempting to transit the narrow waterway without authorisation.
“Bahri remains in continuous contact with the vessel and is coordinating closely with the relevant authorities and maritime industry stakeholders, while continuing to closely monitor developments,” the company said in its statements.
Earlier in the day, the IRGC claimed that US personnel were killed and drones were destroyed in a missile and drone attack on Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, as well as facilities in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Iraq.
In a statement, the IRGC said its Ground Force carried out a combined missile and drone attack on the headquarters and accommodation of the US commander at the base, claiming that “a number” of US personnel were killed.
It also said that the attack set fire to a drone hangar and a drone deployment ramp and destroyed several drones that it said had participated in attacks against Iran.
The IRGC said the strike was carried out simultaneously with attacks on US bases in Jordan, Bahrain, and Erbil.
Separately, the army’s Public Relations Department said that in the “30th phase of Operation Saeeqah,” dozens of explosive drones targeted radar systems and locations where US forces were stationed at Al Dhafra and Al Minhad air bases in the UAE beginning early on Wednesday.
It said radar installations and gathering points used by US forces at Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain were also targeted again in large-scale attacks using Arash explosive drones.
The Iranian military described Al Dhafra as a major US operational facility in the region used for air operations, reconnaissance, surveillance, and support.
The army had earlier said the attack on Sheikh Isa was conducted as part of the “29th phase of Operation Saeeqah.”
The Iranian military claimed that its forces targeted radar installations and gathering centres used by US forces at Sheikh Isa Air Base with “massive drone attacks.”
Iranian authorities described Sheikh Isa as a key US military facility in the Gulf, saying it is used for the repair and maintenance of helicopters and drone components, and hosts reconnaissance aircraft.
Additionally, Iran’s IRGC announced Wednesday that it carried out a missile and drone attack on US bases in Iraq.
It claimed that some US military facilities and equipment were destroyed in the attacks.
The IRGC said missile and drone strikes on US bases in Erbil were carried out in retaliation for overnight US attacks.
It claimed that a maintenance centre and technical equipment storage facilities belonging to the US military were destroyed, and the guidance system of an American surveillance balloon inside the base was also hit.
The IRGC also alleged that the base’s fuel storage facilities were set on fire and that some American soldiers were killed.
It said the attacks were in retaliation for a US strike on a residential home in Sirik in southern Iran a day earlier, which it claimed hit nearly 70 people and killed four, including a child.
Addressing the Kuwaiti public, the IRGC said the attack was directed at the US military presence in Kuwait rather than the Kuwaiti people and called for the removal of US forces from the country.
IRGC warns Arab states to expel US forces or face ‘crushing’ response
Iran’s IRGC political deputy General Yadollah Javani warned Arab states to expel US forces or face a “crushing” military response, naming Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan as potential targets for retaliation, Al Jazeera reported on Wednesday.
“It is better to expel the Americans from your countries and take back the bases,” Javani said in a statement published by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
He warned that Iran’s military has proven that it will retaliate decisively from any staging point used for attacks against Iran, specifically naming Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan.
11 people in Iran killed as US and Iran exchange strikes
Iran said that US strikes on its territory killed 11 people, state media reported, after a fresh attack in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, AFP reported.
“The Deputy Governor of Khuzestan Province for Security and Law Enforcement Affairs said that last night’s US missile attack on three locations in the province left seven people dead and eight injured,” Iranian state-run news agency IRNA said.
The attack follows a separate US strike on a wedding in Sirik, killing 5 people and wounding 50.
The US and Iran found themselves back in a war footing on Wednesday after the most significant exchange in weeks, with Washington threatening even more devastating strikes while Iran protested an attack that it said killed five and wounded dozens of civilians at a wedding.
The US military’s Central Command said it completed a wave of strikes against Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets on Tuesday, including air defence sites, radar systems, maritime assets and facilities, mine-laying capabilities, and communications sites.
Iranian media reported attacks on multiple targets around the country on Tuesday, many near the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has been threatening oil tankers that dare transit the narrow waterway without authorisation.
Iran in turn said it struck US assets in Jordan and Iraq, according to official statements, while Iranian media reports said it also attacked Bahrain. Although the IRGC said it killed a large number of US forces in Jordan, two US officials told Reuters there had not been any casualties, according to initial assessments.
Read: Iranian state media reports ‘decisive operation’ against American bases after fresh US strikes
Jordan’s armed forces said its air defence systems dealt with 13 ballistic missiles that entered the kingdom’s airspace, 10 of which were intercepted and three fell in remote areas. Bahrain said Iranian drones were intercepted and destroyed.
The IRGC also said its ground forces carried out combined missile and drone attacks on US bases in Erbil in northern Iraq, killing several US military personnel. Neither Iraq nor the US had confirmed the attack.
The exchange of fire marked the first serious combat since July, ending a period in which the warring parties withheld fire but also showed little interest in returning to negotiations.
The lull came as the conflict appeared to be draining both sides. Iran’s already ailing economy has been battered by war and its conventional military forces have been degraded. Meanwhile, with US President Donald Trump confronting higher fuel prices ahead of November congressional elections, the US Army has used up much of its global stockpile of highly accurate long-range missiles, Reuters reported last month, raising concerns about the military’s readiness for future conflicts.
Nonetheless, the renewal of hostilities produced another exchange of defiant statements.
“I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing,” Trump said. “They are just playing out the inevitable. When are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight?”
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Iran warned the US and its allies: “We warn that the continuation of American evil in the region will be met with heavier, more widespread, and devastating responses, and any country that cooperates with the aggressive American army must accept its dangerous consequences,” Iran’s joint military command said in a statement.
Five killed at wedding
In one of the more significant cases of civilian casualties in the war, five people were killed, and 50 wounded at a wedding near Sirik, a coastal area on the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranian Red Crescent reported. The Mehr news agency said a 4-year-old child was among those killed, while the IRNA news agency, citing a provincial official, put the number of wounded at 68.
US officials have yet to comment on the incident.
“This cruelty cannot be separated from the chain of atrocities that preceded it,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement, citing incidents including the blast at a school in Minab that killed 160 people, mostly children, at a girls’ school on the first day of the war.
The Pentagon has yet to issue an official finding on the Minab strike, but it may have been the result of US use of outdated targeting data, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The foreign ministry statement pledged that Iran would respond to “these savage crimes with firmness.”
“Those governments and international institutions that remain silent in the face of such barbarism, or seek to justify such acts, must understand that their silence is not neutrality,” Iran said. “Those who remain silent today will not be immune to its consequences tomorrow.”
US strikes 2 Iranian government tankers amid wider attacks: Axios
The US military struck two Iranian government tankers late on Tuesday as part of a broader wave of attacks targeting Iran, according to US officials cited by the Axios news website.
The strikes marked the first time the US has targeted Iranian tankers in retaliation for attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, rather than to prevent violations of a US naval blockade, Axios said.
A US official said the operation was part of a new “tanker for tanker” policy approved by President Donald Trump to deter Iranian attacks on tankers transiting the strategic waterway.
US officials said about 100 targets were struck Tuesday, including IRGC air defence sites, radar systems, mine-laying capabilities, communications facilities, anti-ship cruise missile launchers and attack drone launchers.
The two Iranian tankers were anchored off Iran’s coast north of the US naval blockade line. US drones fired missiles that struck their engine rooms, said officials.
Iran responded by launching about 25 ballistic missiles, but US officials said only half reached Jordanian airspace. Ten were intercepted, while three landed without causing casualties.
Iran also launched about two dozen drones at US bases in Bahrain, most of which were intercepted. Ballistic missiles and drones were also fired at US bases in Kuwait, while two drones targeting a US base in Erbil in Iraq were intercepted.
The White House and the US military’s Central Command said the strikes were conducted in response to recent attempted IRGC attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on US bases in the region.
Axios reported that the strikes were also part of a broader plan under consideration by Trump and his senior aides to prevent Iran from rebuilding radar and missile capabilities needed to threaten shipping in the strait.
A US official told Axios that the strikes degraded Iran’s capabilities and “bought at least a month” of lower threat levels for commercial ships.
Despite the exchanges of fire, US forces continued guiding vessels through the waterway. About 40 ships carrying millions of barrels of oil transited the waterway Tuesday, according to a US official.
Iranian media reported that a US strike hit a wedding ceremony in Kuhestak, killing at least four people and wounding dozens.
CENTCOM spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins said, “We’re aware of the reports, which originated from Iranian state media. The US military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC.”
A US official added that “the Iranians have not only lost control of the Strait of Hormuz, they have also lost control over the conflict. They got nothing today.”
7 killed, 8 injured in US strikes on Iran’s Khuzestan province
Seven people were killed and eight others injured in missile strikes by the US on Iran last Tuesday in the southern Khuzestan province, according to reports.
Khuzestan Deputy Governor Valiollah Hayati told Iran’s official news agency IRNA that the casualties were caused by missile strikes on three locations in the province.
The Iranian official said the strikes targeted areas around the cities of Ahvaz and Aghajari in Khuzestan.
The US military’s Central Command announced that it had launched attacks against targets belonging to Iran’s IRGC.
Following that announcement, Iranian media reported that explosions were heard on Qeshm Island and in Bandar Abbas, Sirik, Chabahar, and Konarak.
