The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) has said that it struck dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets in Iran overnight on Wednesday.
The IRGC said on Thursday it would hit back against the “aggressor”, with Kuwait and Jordan targeted in suspected Iranian strikes on Thursday morning. One worker was killed after a building belonging to a Chinese company was targeted in Kuwait.
CENTCOM said it attacked military command centres, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defence sites and maritime capabilities in Iran. However, it did not reveal specifics or exact locations of these targets within the country.
This came after US President Donald Trump said at the White House that Iran will be “hit very hard” after the IRGC launched a ballistic missile attack on a US base in Jordan on Wednesday. Egypt was also targeted in a drone strike on Thursday.
Explosions were heard in several locations in southern Iran following the launch of the US attacks, local outlet Press TV reported on Thursday.
Qeshm island
Three explosions were heard on Qeshm island, inside the city, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Thursday. The outlet added that residents said a missile struck a residential area. A couple and their child were killed in a strike.
Fars province
Tasnim added that US forces hit the southwestern Fars province, where US forces targeted an area on the outskirts of the city of Kazerun, the outlet reported.
Kish island
Tasnim reported that explosions were also heard on the island of Kish in the Gulf.
It said two loud explosions were heard on Kish following a missile strike, but quoted authorities as saying that operations at the island’s airport and passenger ferry services remain unaffected.
Bushehr province
Explosions were heard in Bushehr province, where Iran’s only nuclear power plant is located, according to the IRIB state broadcaster on Thursday.
The US military targeted three cities in the province of Bushehr overnight, IRIB added. No casualties were reported.
Khuzestan province
IRIB quoted a deputy security minister in the southwestern Khuzestan province as saying that US forces targeted “some locations in Abadan”.
At least seven locations in the province’s Ahvaz city were hit, the IRIB state broadcaster added.
Power outages were reported in some parts of Ahvaz, Tasnim news agency reported.
Additionally, Tasnim reported that two explosions were heard in the port city of Bandar Abbas in Hormozgan province, and that “similar sounds” were heard on the islands of Abu Musa, Kish and Qeshm.
It quoted a senior Hormozgan province official as saying there have been no attacks on the city of Sirik.
Qeshm city
Iran’s IRIB state broadcaster reported on Thursday that two people are trapped under rubble following the US strike on a residential building on Qeshm.
Quoting the deputy governor of Hormozgan province, IRIB said the building in the Chah-Tango neighbourhood of Qeshm city was “hit by enemy projectiles,” and that “search and rescue operations are under way to save the trapped individuals with all available resources”.
Tasnim reported that power has been fully restored across Qeshm following a temporary blackout caused by a missile strike on the electrical grid.
The IRGC said that “with the help of God Almighty, the aggressor will be punished today,” according to Iran’s Fars news agency, quoting the IRGC’s public relations.
Early on Thursday morning, the Jordanian Armed Forces again said their air defence systems intercepted and shot down five missiles launched from Iran targeting the kingdom’s territory.
Kuwait’s Defence Ministry announced on Thursday that one worker had been killed in an Iranian attack that targeted a building belonging to a Chinese company in the country’s north.