US bombs Iran after Trump threat, Tehran closes Hormuz Strait to all ships

The United States has launched fresh strikes on “multiple targets” in Iran on President Donald Trump’s orders, with Tehran responding with strikes on US bases in Bahrain and Kuwait and two vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

The US military said the strikes late on Wednesday were “in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression”, as Iranian state media reported explosions on Qeshm Island and in the cities of Bandar Abbas and Sirik along the Strait of Hormuz.

Blasts also hit the southern city of Kargan, wounding at least two people.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) accused the US of “repeated violations” of their April ceasefire, and said the Strait of Hormuz was “closed until further notice”.

It said all traffic in the vital waterway, including oil tankers and commercial vessels, would be affected, and firmly rejected the US’s previous claims that it had helped ships pass through the strait.

The IRGC subsequently added that “two oil tankers attempting to illegally pass through the strait were hit”. It also claimed drone strikes on Bahrain’s Sheikh Isa Air Base and Kuwait’s Ali Al Salem Air Base and the Ahmad Al-Jaber Air Bases.

The escalation comes a day after the US and Iran exchanged tit-for-tat strikes over the downing of a US Apache helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz. The two pilots were later rescued in the waterway.

Trump told reporters at the White House that the US would hit Iran “very hard”.