US Resumes Strikes on Iran After Five-Day Pause; Three Civilians Reported Killed

The United States resumed its military campaign against Iran late on Wednesday, launching what it described as a “heavy wave” of strikes after a five-night pause. The operation came a day after Iranian missiles targeted US forces at a military base in Jordan, while Iranian media reported that at least three civilians, including a couple and their two-year-old child, were killed in the latest attacks.

The renewed strikes mark another escalation in the confrontation between Washington and Tehran after a brief pause in US attacks, with both sides continuing retaliatory military action as tensions over the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz persist. According to Al Jazeera, the United States said the strikes were aimed at weakening Iran’s military capabilities, while Iran insisted its response would continue as long as US threats remained. Hours after the US operation, Jordan and Kuwait also reported Iranian attacks on their territory.

The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said it had “successfully completed a heavy wave of strikes against Iran” by 10pm ET on Wednesday (02:00 GMT Thursday). In a statement posted on X, CENTCOM said the attacks were launched in response to Iranian missile strikes on US forces stationed at a US base in Jordan a day earlier.

CENTCOM said dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets were struck, including “military command centres, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defence sites, and maritime capabilities”. The attacks came hours after US President Donald Trump said the United States would hit Iran “very hard”.

According to Al Jazeera, Iranian media reported that a couple and their two-year-old child were killed after a residential building on Qeshm island, the largest island in the Gulf, was hit.

Bombings were also reported in the southwestern cities of Ahvaz and Abadan. The semi-official Tasnim News Agency said power outages occurred in Ahvaz following the strikes. The city is located in Iran’s oil-rich Khuzestan province.

A deputy security minister in Khuzestan told Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB that US forces had targeted “some locations in Abadan”.

Attacks were also reported in the southern province of Bushehr, as well as in the cities of Kazerun and Farashband in Fars province.

Al Jazeera reported that the latest wave of strikes was concentrated in Iran’s southern provinces, particularly areas along the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, mirroring the pattern of US attacks during a recent 13-day campaign.

The United States had halted its attacks on Friday after nearly two weeks of continuous nightly strikes.

The IRGC said Tehran’s resistance would continue for as long as Washington’s threats persisted.

Iran responded on Thursday by targeting a US airbase and command headquarters in Jordan. Amman said there were no casualties and that five Iranian missiles were intercepted before reaching their targets.

According to an official spokesperson for the Jordanian Armed Forces, military radar detected the incoming missiles before air defence units successfully engaged and shot down all five.

Soon afterwards, Kuwait’s defence ministry spokesperson said on X that an Iranian strike hit a building belonging to a Chinese company in the north of the country, killing one worker and causing significant damage.

Ryan Bohl, a senior Middle East analyst with RANE Network, a risk intelligence company, said the United States had two likely escalation options.

“The first is the repeat of what America was doing prior to last Friday, which is focusing on targets and infrastructure related to Iran’s blockade of Hormuz,” he said.

“Or it could be an escalation towards the bridges and power plant strategy that President Trump has repeatedly threatened over and over again.”

The United States is eager to end Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a large percentage of global oil shipping passes.

Earlier, Iran rejected an Omani proposal on co-managing shipping routes through the strategic waterway.

On Wednesday, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions on two Iranian companies it said were integral to an IRGC-backed “scheme” that forces commercial vessels to buy insurance to transit Hormuz.

“The United States will not allow Iran to hold global commerce hostage or use international shipping to finance the IRGC’s terrorism, aggression, and repression,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote on X.

CENTCOM said the latest strikes were intended to “further diminish threats posed by Iran and its proxies to American forces, commercial shipping, and neighboring Gulf nations”.

Former Pentagon official David Des Roches told Al Jazeera that the latest US strikes were “not a very overwhelming attack”, adding that Trump was perhaps “trying to keep things proportionate, or to keep things open for diplomacy”.