Trump calls second set of US attacks ‘retaliation’

Kuwait’s air defenses were in operation to prevent “hostile missile and drone attacks” on Thursday morning, the country’s military confirmed.

“The Army General Staff notes that any explosions heard are the result of intercepting hostile attacks by air defense systems,” a post on social media read without mentioning the origin of the attacks.

Like Bahrain, Kuwait was also targeted by Iranian retaliatory strikes on Wednesday.

Mohsen Rezaei, a military officer in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and a senior adviser to the country’s supreme leader, said late Wednesday that Iran’s enemies “will be severely punished.”

Posting on social media, Rezaee first quoted a verse from the Quran in Arabic: “So whoever attacks you, attack him in the same manner as he has attacked you.”

He then said in Persian: “The attacking enemy and its allies will be severely punished.”

Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said Thursday morning that air raid sirens were sounded in the kingdom’s capital, Manama.

There were no specific references about the origin of the threat, but the country was targeted by Iran on Wednesday in response to the initial wave of US strikes on Iran on Tuesday night.

At the same time, Reuters news agency reported that residents of neighboring Qatar had received “a warning of an increased security threat” on their mobile phones, followed immediately by an explicit message.

Qatar and Bahrain are both home to significant US military installations.

US President Donald Trump said the latest wave of attacks on Iran on Wednesday night were “in retaliation for Iran’s bombing of ships in the Strait of Hormuz yesterday.”

Amid a series of short, uncommented videos over the past 30 minutes, presumably showing the latest missile attacks on Iran, Trump wrote in a social media post, “If this happens again, it will be much worse!”

Iran targeted three cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, appearing to threaten Trump’s decision to call off a fragile ceasefire and resume attacks on Iran.

Earlier on Wednesday, Trump made several contradictory comments on the scope of the war.

He said the back-and-forth fighting would not lead to “long-term” military action and “whatever happens is not going to happen very rapidly.” However, he also suggested that the US military could “simply finish the job.”

A US official told Reuters news agency on Wednesday evening that the latest wave of US strikes against Iran would be larger in number than those carried out on Tuesday.

On Tuesday night, US Central Command (CENTCOM) claimed its forces had struck more than 80 targets, including Iranian air-defense systems, coastal radar sites and 60 IRGC small boats.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it attacked US military facilities in Kuwait and Bahrain in retaliation on Wednesday.

The latest attacks on Iran come after US President Donald Trump said earlier on Wednesday that the US would “likely strike again tonight.”

Iranian state media reported explosions in the southern port cities of Bandar Abbas and Sirik.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) also reported an explosion on Abu Musa Island in the Strait of Hormuz.

It also said that shrapnel from the projectile fell on a hospital in Chabahar further east along Iran’s southern coast.

Hello and welcome to DW’s coverage of the latest developments in the ongoing conflict between Iran and the United States.

For the second time in 24 hours, the US military has attacked targets inside Iran.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced additional strikes against Iran “to further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.”

It said Washington was “holding Iran accountable for its recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping.”

The sustained attacks come after US President Donald Trump announced on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara that the ceasefire agreement with Tehran was up.

Stay tuned as we provide updates throughout the night.