Donald Trump vows retaliation after Iran launches missile barrage toward US forces in Jordan
Kasim Abdul-Zahra
Updated ,first published
Baghdad: The US military launched an attack on Iranian targets hours after President Donald Trump warned that a retaliatory strike was imminent after Iran launched a barrage of missiles against American forces in the Middle East.
US Central Command announced the attacks on social media, which began at 10am AEST on Thursday, saying they were “a strong response to yesterday’s attempted Iranian attack”.
“We’re going to hit them very hard, because it’s our turn to hit them. They know it’s coming and they want us not to do it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon (US time).
The president put this in more clear terms when he spoke to Fox News. “We’re going to bore them,” he said.
According to reports in Iranian state media, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards had previously announced that the United States had fired ballistic missiles at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, an important military center for the region.
This comes after the US partnered with Saudi Arabia to strike Tehran-backed militias in neighboring Iraq, killing at least 20 fighters and six Iranian advisers.
Trump said five Iranian rockets were intercepted in Jordan and US forces were unharmed. “But they still shot, so it’s our turn.”
Elsewhere, drone strikes opened fire on two natural gas ships in the Egyptian port of Damietta on Wednesday (Middle East time), according to British maritime security firm Ambrey. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attacks on the US floating storage facility and a Greek tanker. No injuries were reported.
Egypt, a close US ally and regional mediator, is one of the only countries in the Middle East to have survived direct military action during the war. If confirmed, an attack by Iran or its allies would mark a significant expansion of the conflict.
Trump said about the Egyptian attacks, without going into much detail, “I’ve been briefed. A little more of the same. But it’ll get better.”
After a few days of relative calm, flare-ups on many fronts increased the risk of returning to all-out war. It also underlined the difficulty of ending the five-month conflict that has shaken the world economy and is unpopular with Americans. The conflict is also likely to raise concerns that the United States will further reduce its already dwindling stockpiles of advanced munitions needed to defend its bases and allies.
Before the latest explosion, mediators had expressed optimism about bringing the United States and Iran to the negotiation table again. An interim agreement collapsed in recent weeks amid renewed fighting in the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global energy supplies that has once again been effectively closed by Iranian attacks.
A local official said mediators were “still working with both sides” to restore calm and get the ceasefire back on track. He did not provide any details on whether progress had been made and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door diplomacy.
Trump said he was still interested in reaching a deal but said Iran’s latest aggression required a response.
Renewed hostilities caused oil prices to soar. The price of Brent Crude oil increased by more than 7 percent to $88 per barrel.
Saudi Arabia had accused Iraqi militias of opening fire on oil facilities with unmanned aerial vehicles in the last two days. An umbrella group of Iraqi militias initially denied the allegations, while another Iran-backed group – Houthi rebels in Yemen – said they had attacked Saudi energy facilities as part of a separate but related conflict.
The US military said American and Saudi warplanes hit several logistics and weapons facilities in eastern Iraq in response to alleged drone attacks on Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Ministry of Defense warned that it was “not trying to escalate tensions, but will respond to any attack.”
The Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of mostly Shiite, Iran-backed armed groups officially under the command of the Iraqi military, said at least 20 fighters were killed and 32 others were wounded in the night attacks. Six Iranian advisers were also killed, two Iraqi militia officials told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
The coalition joined the fight against the Islamic State group after capturing large parts of Iraq in 2014. The Iraqi government later described the coalition as an “independent military formation” within the armed forces, but the militias have significant autonomy and some have attacked US facilities.
The Iraqi government condemned the US-Saudi attacks, but the Fox News correspondent said Trump told him these attacks were coordinated with the Iraqi government.
Iraqi President Nizar Amidi’s office called the airstrikes “a clear violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.”
Iraq’s National Security Council said the attacks were carried out “while the Iraqi government is in contact with relevant parties to investigate and address any concerns raised by the Saudi and American parties.” The statement stated that “several innocent people” were killed and injured.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s visit to Saudi Arabia, scheduled for Thursday, has been postponed indefinitely, two Iraqi government officials said, as they were not authorized to comment publicly.
Saudi Arabia is also involved in a renewed conflict with the Houthis. By declaring a blockade of Saudi ships, the rebels could block another important Middle East trade route, the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which runs from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
On Monday, the Houthis said they launched drones through Saudi Arabia targeting oil facilities used to transport oil to Yanbu, a key transit point for Saudi exports due to Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz.
The rebels said their strike was in response to a Saudi drone they said violated Yemeni airspace.
Planet Labs satellite images from Monday analyzed by the AP showed damage at Saudi Aramco’s Abqaiq oil processing plant. The huge facility has the capacity to process approximately 7 million barrels of crude oil per day.
Separately, an oil refinery in Jazan on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast was temporarily closed on Saturday due to “relatively significant” damage from a Houthi attack, a regional official said. The official, who was not authorized to brief reporters and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the repairs would take a few days. The refinery produces 400,000 barrels per day.
The Strait of Hormuz became a major flashpoint in the conflict. Iran’s deputy foreign minister said his country rejected Oman’s proposal to jointly manage ship traffic, which is on the other side of the strait.
In an interview with Iran’s state television, Kazem Garibabadi said Oman’s proposal includes dividing the strait into two routes.
Iran has submitted a counter-offer that includes an interim plan for ships to pass through its territorial waters, the official said, adding that Tehran’s policy is that the strait, where ships move freely, “never returns to its pre-war state.”
AP, Reuters
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