Iran Widens Retaliation to Gulf Neighbors After Wedding Strike

Iran fired missiles and drones at Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Iraq's Kurdistan region overnight as a deadly US strike on a wedding in Kuhestak fueled escalation.

President Trump called the strikes "large and powerful," saying they targeted Iran's attempt to lay sea mines in the strait and its missile attack on a US base in Jordan. Iran answered with what its armed forces called a "decisive operation," firing ballistic missiles and drones at US bases and assets in Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Iraq's Erbil region, while claiming its strike on Kuwait's Ali Al Salem airbase set fire to a drone hangar and destroyed several US drones.

What makes the latest round notable is how widely Iran dispersed its retaliation across US partner nations rather than limiting it to American facilities. Jordan's military said its air defenses engaged 13 Iranian ballistic missiles that entered the kingdom's airspace, intercepting 10 while three fell in remote areas without casualties. Kuwait and Bahrain both reported intercepting incoming drones and missiles without reporting casualties, with air-raid sirens sounding in Bahrain, home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet headquarters. Kurdish authorities in Iraq said they intercepted 10 explosive-laden drones near Irbil, and Israel reported Iran-backed Hezbollah fired two explosive drones at its soldiers in southern Lebanon without causing casualties.

One US strike hit a home hosting a wedding party in Kuhestak, a small coastal town overlooking the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state media reported four people killed — two women and two children aged 4 and 16 — and at least 68 wounded, though the province's deputy governor had initially told state television five died, and NPR reported a toll of five including a child. Iranian Red Crescent footage showed a hole in the roof of a densely packed neighborhood and wounded children treated at a hospital in Minab. Two weapons experts told the Associated Press that missile fragments shown in Iranian media appeared to come from a US-made SLAM-ER cruise missile, described as a very precise weapon that can be retargeted in flight. CENTCOM spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said the military was "aware of the reports, which originated from Iranian state media, and we are looking into them," adding that "the US military never targets civilians."

The fight remains centered on the Strait of Hormuz, which carried roughly a fifth of the world's traded oil before the war began in February and which Iran has largely kept shut despite US claims of progress. CENTCOM's Adm. Brad Cooper said last week the strait had been secretly cleared of mines and that the Navy helped nearly 1,500 commercial vessels carrying some 750 million barrels of oil pass through, but only a handful of ships make the passage daily and attacks on vessels continue. Saudi shipping company Bahri said two Filipino sailors were killed in an attack Monday on its tanker Sidr in the strait, and Iran's IRGC said two tankers caught fire after hitting mines while trying to transit an "illegal route," unverified. Brent crude has climbed to around $95 a barrel since fighting resumed, up more than 30% since the war started, squeezing the global economy.

Analysts say both capitals are under strain that makes the cycle hard to stop. Hamidreza Azizi of the Crisis Group warned that one side may eventually escalate specifically to break the stalemate, pushing both "to a point that they have been trying to avoid until now, which is a full-scale war." Domestically, a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Monday found just 36% of Americans approve of the Iran war, with Trump's approval at 33%, as the conflict weighs on Republicans ahead of November's midterms.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit that Tehran would "immediately reciprocate" if Washington returned to the terms of the June memorandum of understanding that halted hostilities, but the deal expired August 17 without agreement. Talks remain deadlocked: the US demands Iran end its blockade of Hormuz without conditions, while Tehran wants the US to lift its naval blockade on Iranian ports. Trump said late Tuesday he would not force Iran to bargain, writing that he prefers "almost total control of the Hormuz Strait" while Iran's "economy is totally collapsing." Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said fresh bank sanctions on Iran were likely this week, and mediator Pakistan said it remained engaged with both sides and optimistic they "will return to the table for dialogue."