Iran retaliates after US strikes, defying Trump’s warning it could be hit ‘much harder’

(CNN) — The US military carried out additional strikes on Iran on Tuesday, prompting Tehran to attack Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait in defiance of a warning from President Donald Trump that any retaliation would see Iran “hit much harder.”

The latest round of tit-for-tat strikes come after the US and Iran traded attacks overnight into Monday for the first time in over a month, in exchanges that risked reigniting the damaging military conflict after weeks of relative calm.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said its fresh strikes Tuesday were launched in response to recent attempted Iranian attacks “against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and American troops deployed to the region,” in a post on X.

The military said the strikes began at 12 p.m. ET Tuesday, and that its targets included “air defense sites, radar systems, maritime assets and facilities, mine laying capabilities, and communications sites” associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. A CENTCOM post on X at 6.33 p.m. ET said the wave of strikes was complete.

President Donald Trump warned Iran would face more severe US military action if it retaliated against what he called a “very justified attack,” while noting that the US is still holding out on “the biggest attack of them all.”

“They will be hit again at a much harder and higher level, but it will not be the biggest attack of them all, that is waiting in the wings and, when it is over, there will be very little left of the Islamic Republic of Iran!” he wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday.

Iran quickly vowed a “crushing” response, and claimed one of the US strikes had hit a wedding celebration in southern Iran, killing four, including a young child, and wounding as many as 50. CNN has reached out to CENTCOM for comment on Iran’s claim.

The new rounds of attacks came despite Trump officials previously telegraphing plans to shift away from a military campaign and toward a strategy focused on ramping up economic pressure — and the Treasury secretary touting that approach on Tuesday at a G20 meeting of finance ministers in North Carolina.

“I couldn’t care less if they sign a worthless, to them, agreement. I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Tuesday night. “I’m not trying to force Iran to the bargaining table,” he added.

After Sunday’s initial US strikes, Iran said it fired missiles toward US military targets in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates in retaliation for a US strike on Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island. The US said Iran was trying to launch sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz –– the shipping route that’s become the center of regional tensions and diplomatic efforts.

Trump told Fox News that the US went after radar systems that Tehran had tried to rebuild. “They tried to rebuild their radar because they can’t see anything,” he said. “We waited until it was almost built and then we hit it,” he added.

Trump also said the US gave Gulf allies a heads-up before its latest strikes and criticized Iran’s leadership. “I think an agreement with them isn’t worth the paper it’s written on,” the president told Fox, later adding, “They don’t stop: They’re crazy and they’re stupid.”

Around the time of the latest US strikes, Trump was set to meet with oil executives at the White House. The group of nearly a dozen refiners and distributors discussed expanding US refining capacity, and the president emphasized that he wants to see lower gas prices for US consumers, according to a White House official.

After US Central Command announced the new strikes, oil futures climbed above $94 a barrel.

Iran vows to retaliate

Iran’s Armed Forces Central Headquarters said Iran would “deliver crushing and devastating blows” against the “American enemy,” state broadcaster IRIB reported.

“The more the US military persists in its aggression in the region, the greater and heavier the losses it will have to endure,” it said.

Iran said on Tuesday that it had launched missiles toward Jordan and released video that it said showed the launches. Kuwait and Bahrain also activated air defense systems intercepting attacks from Iran, according to respective authorities.

The Jordanian Armed Forces said Tuesday it had intercepted 10 missiles launched from Iran and another three fell in remote locations far from populated areas. No casualties were reported, and the public has been urged not to approach, touch or move any debris.

Jordan’s state broadcaster Al-Mamlakah reported that air raid sirens were activated in the governorates of Mafraq and Aqaba following the reported attack.

Ahmad Nafisi, Hormozgan province’s deputy governor for political, security and social affairs, told Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB that the wedding celebration was taking place in the village of Kouhestak in Sirik county at the time of the attack.

Four projectiles hit the neighboring port cities of Chabahar and Konarak in southeastern Iran, Iranian authorities also said Tuesday.

Multiple explosions were also heard east of Bandar Abbas and around Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iran’s state-run broadcaster IRIB.

Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island sit on the northern side of the strait, one of the world’s most important energy-shipping chokepoints, while Chabahar and Konarak are twin strategic port cities on the Gulf of Oman that host key commercial, maritime and military infrastructure.

Iran’s state-run television service Press TV said the strikes hit the small regional Jiroft Airport in southeastern Iran and a fishmeal factory on Qeshm Island in the strait.

Separately, an explosion was heard in Iran’s southern county of Asaluyeh, a key gas and petrochemical hub on the Gulf coast, according to Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency.

The governor of Asaluyeh said an explosion had been heard in the county but provided no immediate details on the cause of the blast or whether there were any casualties or damage.

Asaluyeh is home to major energy infrastructure linked to the South Pars gas field, one of the world’s largest natural gas reserves. The report did not specify the location of the explosion within the county.

Strait of Hormuz will be ‘worthless piece of water’

The Trump administration has repeatedly dismissed concerns about Iran’s long-term hold on the Strait of Hormuz, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday insisting that efforts to establish new oil shipping routes will ultimately make it “a worthless piece of water.”

“We can see the Iranians are trying to use the Strait of Hormuz as a choke point,” he told Larry Kudlow during an interview at the G20 meeting. “But that will be bypassed in two years. In two years, the Strait of Hormuz will be like a worthless piece of water — the oil will be going on pipelines across land.”

Bessent also claimed that the Treasury Department’s new push to cut off Iran’s economy from the rest of the world would eventually force the regime to surrender, characterizing his job as to “make sure that they want to have a deal.”

“We are going to economically asphyxiate this regime,” Bessent said. “The world is tired of this pariah state, or this rogue state, and they are willing to make it a pariah.”

He added that after initially targeting a bank in Dubai for its alleged ties to Iran, the Treasury Department is likely to sanction two more banks in the next couple weeks.

But Bessent again declined to commit on Tuesday to penalizing China, which serves as one of Iran’s biggest trading partners.

“Everyone says to me, ‘Well, what about China?’” Bessent said. “I said, ‘We have more in common with the Chinese on Iran than we disagree on.’ … So we have had private discussions with them in terms of achieving those goals.”

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo, Matt Egan, Aida Karimi, Hira Humayun and Eyad Kourdi contributed reporting.

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