Iran says it has carried out airstrikes on US military facilities and bases across the Middle East in retaliation for the 13th consecutive night of US attacks on the country.
Explosions were reported on the coast of Iran in the Gulf, and in the western, northern and central areas. Four people were killed and five wounded in an attack in the southwest, Iran’s state media said.
Iran later announced strikes on US-backed Kuwait, while sirens sounded in Bahrain and Jordan, and flights were grounded at Iraq’s main airport after a reported drone crash.
It comes as Iran has criticized a US plan to use frozen Iranian assets to pay for war damages, a sign of growing tensions between the two countries.
On Thursday, US President Donald Trump said that damages to ships and assets in the Strait of Hormuz will be paid for “with Iranian money that America owns and controls”.
“This damage may be too great but, nevertheless, this is the right and equal thing to do,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded that seizing another country’s property to “pay unrelated future claims is a hot example”.
“The ensuing chaos will not be pretty or peaceful,” he added.
In June, the US and Iran agreed on a 14-point Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to halt military operations and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and to reach an agreement to end the war within the next 60 days.
But three weeks after it was signed, Trump declared the ceasefire “over” after Iran attacked ships on the route, and US strikes in response.
Point 11 of the MoU explained that “the United States of America undertakes to make fully available for use the frozen or restricted funds and assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.
As the US pushes to regain control of the Strait of Hormuz, there is growing concern about new threats to shipping in the Red Sea from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis.
That helped push back the price of crude oil $100 (£74.96) a barrel – the highest level since May.
Trump separately on Thursday vowed “massive military punishment” against Iran for the Houthi attack.
He later told the Axios news website that he was considering restarting large-scale hostilities in Iran and launching “bigger than ever” strikes.
Tensions have been escalating between the US and Iran since early July.
On Thursday night, the US military said it carried out the strikes to destroy Iran’s ability to threaten civilian vessels in the region.
The US Central Command (Centcom) said it targeted “Iranian military command centers, aircraft depots, communications networks, coast guard and naval forces”.
Iran’s military said it had launched an attack on American bases in Kuwait, while Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior reported that its sirens were sounding and Iranian state media also said alarms had been activated in Jordan.
The news agencies AFP and Reuters both reported that there is a drone accident at Erbil International Airport, Iraq, and a temporary stop. Flights have started again.
