ISLAMABAD (GNP): At least seven Iranian military personnel were killed in overnight US strikes on an army base in Bampur, near the southeastern city of Iranshahr, Iran’s army said Wednesday, as hostilities between Washington and Tehran entered a fifth day and threatened to widen across the region.
Iran’s army said 13 missiles struck a guesthouse, guard posts and accommodation facilities at the base, describing the strikes as intended to cause maximum casualties. It said a number of personnel were also wounded and vowed a “decisive response.”
Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said separately that more than 30 civilians had been killed in recent attacks on southern Iran, though she did not specify locations or provide further casualty details. The spokesman for Iran’s Ministry of Health, Hossein Kermanpour, said more than 260 people had been injured in the latest US strikes, with 222 treated and discharged and at least two people killed. He said three of the wounded were minors.
US strikes also hit three locations in the southwestern city of Bushehr on Wednesday morning, with no injuries reported, according to the provincial governor. In Khuzestan province, a wheat storage silo in Hoveyzeh County and another site in Dasht-e Azadegan County were struck overnight, a provincial security official said, adding that no casualties had been reported and that assessments were ongoing.
The US Central Command said it completed an additional round of strikes late Tuesday, hitting dozens of military targets near the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian coastal areas over a seven-hour operation using fighter aircraft, drones and naval vessels against missile and drone sites, naval capabilities and coastal defense systems. The strikes coincided with a renewed US naval blockade of vessels transiting Iranian ports and coastal areas. Washington has said Iran attacked seven commercial ships over the past week, resulting in nearly a dozen crew members killed, missing or injured.
In response, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it targeted command-and-control, logistics, fuel and military equipment facilities belonging to the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, and reported setting fire to a US logistics facility in Kuwait’s Mina Abdullah and striking aircraft hangars at a US base in Jordan’s Azraq, alleging some US attacks were launched from Jordanian territory.
Kuwait’s state news agency reported a fire was later brought under control at a targeted site, though it was unclear if this referred to the same location cited by the Guards. The IRGC said the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until what it called “the end of America’s evils,” noting that roughly a fifth of global oil and gas shipments passed through the strait daily before the conflict began in February.
The Guards also warned they would close “all other export corridors that benefit the US and its allies,” a statement carried by Iran’s state news agency said. Analysts have suggested Iran may activate its Houthi allies in Yemen to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key gateway linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden through which Saudi oil exports and significant global shipping pass.
A senior Houthi official said Monday the group was prepared to shut the strait, potentially pushing oil prices toward $200 a barrel, if Saudi Arabia continued strikes on Yemen. Houthi forces fired missiles at Saudi Arabia after accusing it of bombing an airport under their control, breaking a four-year truce between the two sides.
Jordan’s armed forces said their air defense systems intercepted and downed three ballistic missiles that entered Jordanian airspace from Iranian territory early Wednesday, with no injuries or material damage reported. Engineering teams cleared shrapnel from several locations under standard security procedures.
Also Read: Hormuz Crisis Deepens as US and Iran Trade Strikes, Akraminia
At the United Nations, Chinese Ambassador Sun Lei said the latest US strikes had again pushed the region toward a “dangerous precipice,” rejecting accusations by US envoy Mike Waltz that China was not doing enough to curb the flow of goods to Iran and the Houthis. Waltz had told the Security Council that Iran, along with some Chinese companies and entities, had violated a UN arms embargo resolution on the Houthis with little consequence, citing dual-use items and satellite imagery allegedly used to threaten shipping and aircraft. Sun called the claim baseless, saying China maintains strict export controls, and urged Washington to stop generating new conflict in the Middle East.
US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would target Iranian power plants and bridges next week unless Tehran returns to negotiations, telling Fox News he was reserving energy targets for last but would ultimately strike them. He said US negotiators had urged their Iranian counterparts to reach a deal. Trump had floated a 20 percent fee on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, drawing criticism from the UN shipping agency, before dropping the idea Tuesday in favor of seeking investment deals with Gulf states.
Oil prices climbed further Wednesday after Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate each closed at one-month highs in the previous session, with both benchmarks reaching their highest levels since mid-June amid deepening supply disruptions linked to the Strait of Hormuz. The current round of hostilities reignited last week, unraveling a fragile truce reached in June following months of fighting that killed thousands of civilians, mostly in Iran and Lebanon.
Managing Editor at Global News Pakistan (GNP), with a Bachelor's degree in International Relations from Riphah International University, graduated with a Gold Medal. Reach out at sabahtareengnp@gmail.com
