Jordan says it downs 5 Iranian missiles on 4th consecutive day of attacks

The Jordanian army said on Thursday that it intercepted and downed five missiles launched from Iran toward the kingdom, marking the fourth consecutive day of such incidents.

No casualties were reported, it added.

On Wednesday, Jordan said it had downed five missiles after intercepting one drone on Tuesday and two drones on Monday.

3 family members killed, 2 children injured in US strike on southern Iran: IRNA

Three members of the same family were killed and two children were injured in a US strike on a residential building in Qeshm, southern Iran, early Thursday, according to the country's official IRNA news agency.

Citing Hormozgan Deputy Governor Ahmad Nafisi, IRNA said search and rubble-removal operations at the home in the Chah Tangu neighbourhood had been completed.

Nafisi said the victims were a father, a mother and one of their children, while the family's two other children were taken to a medical facility for treatment.

UN chief expresses concern over renewed hostilities, calls for dialogue

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the US and Iran to cease fighting and return to diplomacy, according to a spokesman, as per Al Jazeera.

“The Secretary-General has been worried for some time that if the parties do not return to negotiations, you could have a widening of the conflict, and that seems to be what has been happening in recent hours,” Deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters in New York.

“These are not positive developments, and he wants to make sure that the parties can cease fighting and again return to the diplomatic efforts, including the mediation efforts being pressed forward by Pakistan, Qatar and others.”

Two tankers turned back after fire breaks out in Strait of Hormuz: IRGC

The IRGC said two oil tankers attempting to use the “unsafe route” south of the Strait of Hormuz turned back overnight, after a “severe fire” broke out on one of them, according to Al Jazeera.

In a statement on its official Telegram channel, the IRGC said the vessels had been directed onto the route by US aircraft. It did not identify the tankers by name, flag or operator, nor provide details on casualties or damage.

The IRGC said the Strait of Hormuz is Iranian territory and that its naval forces maintain full control over the waterway, adding that “outsiders” from thousands of miles away would not be allowed to interfere. It also said the “aggressor” would be punished later on Thursday.

The statement added that the strait would remain closed as long as US officials continued what it called threats, provocative rhetoric, and interference in regional maritime activities, warning that such actions would only make the situation more difficult.

UAE condemns drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities from Iraqi territory

The United Arab Emirates “strongly condemned” drone attacks launched from Iraqi territory that targeted oil facilities in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, according to Al Jazeera.

In a statement published today, the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the attacks constituted a “blatant violation” of Saudi sovereignty and a threat to its security and stability, without specifying the timing of the incidents or whether they caused casualties or damage.

Saudi Arabia last reported drone strikes on Tuesday, and launched joint strikes with the US on what it called Iran-aligned groups in Iraq. The strikes killed at least 20 members of Iraq’s paramilitary Popular Mobilisation Forces, according to the group.

Iran says US air strikes hit three cities in Bushehr overnight

Iran’s IRIB state broadcaster reported that the US military targeted three cities in the province of Bushehr overnight, according to Al Jazeera.

The deputy political, security and social affairs officer of the Bushehr governor told the broadcaster that the air strikes hit areas around the cities of Bushehr, Jam and Khormoj.

No casualties were reported following the attacks, he said, according to IRIB.

Bushehr province hosts the country’s only nuclear power plant.

US strikes Iran again as Iran strikes US oil storage in Egypt port

The US carried out fresh strikes in Iran on Wednesday, the US military said, further intensifying a five-month-old war that was already expanding beyond its main fronts to embroil additional countries in ‌the region.

"US forces began launching strikes against Iran at 8:00pm ET today (5:00am PKT)," US Central Command said in a statement.

"The strikes are a powerful response to yesterday's attempted Iranian attacks on US forces based in the Middle East."

Earlier on Wednesday, a drone hit a US-owned gas storage tanker at Egypt's Mediterranean port of Damietta, British maritime security firm Ambrey said in an initial assessment, while US and Saudi forces launched strikes against Iran-aligned groups in eastern Iraq and Iran fired missiles at US troops in Jordan.

A statement from Egypt's petroleum ministry confirmed ​a fire at the port but made no mention of a drone attack. It was not immediately clear who was responsible.

The latest strikes in Iraq and Egypt threatened to draw more Middle Eastern countries into ​the conflict, after the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen last week declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia.

The US strikes in Iran on Wednesday followed President Donald Trump's vow earlier ⁠in the day to retaliate against Iran for firing on US troops.

"So it's our turn," Trump told reporters at the White House, promising to "hit them very hard" even as he again said Washington would continue to aim for a ​peace deal with Tehran.

Iran confirmed overnight that it had fired on US bases in Jordan and at ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and also spurned an Omani proposal to jointly manage the strait, a critical global shipping route for oil ​and gas.

The war began in February, when the US and Israel launched a bombing campaign in Iran that Trump said would last only a few weeks. A temporary ceasefire agreement in June collapsed amid renewed fighting over the strait, which Iran says it now controls.

Read: Trump expresses concern about Iran war's economic fallout in meeting with Netanyahu: report

Oil prices shot up on Wednesday in one of the sharpest spikes of the five-month war. Brent crude futures rose more than 8% to push the benchmark well above $90 a barrel, reversing much of a plunge earlier this week when Trump had unexpectedly halted US strikes.

'Death to America' shouted in Iraq

The joint US-Saudi attacks marked the first time Riyadh has publicly joined strikes alongside Washington.

Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces, powerful Iran-backed paramilitary groups incorporated into the Iraqi security forces, said at least 20 members were killed and ​32 wounded in US-Saudi strikes targeting several bases across Iraq.

Iraqi men shouted "Death to America!" as they carried the bodies of slain fighters in body bags.

Washington and Riyadh said they struck Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq in retaliation for drone attacks on Saudi oil targets ‌launched from Iraq.

After ⁠the joint attacks, Saudi Arabia's defence minister met with Vice President JD Vance in Washington on Wednesday to urge the Trump administration not to escalate the conflict further by attacking Yemen's Houthis and carrying out additional strikes against the Iran-aligned militias in Iraq, two sources told Reuters.

One of the sources added that such escalation would open the door to "major unknown risks." The White House and Saudi embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

US officials have privately cautioned that resuming major combat operations against Iran would carry risk given the negative impact on stocks of munitions.

The Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, estimated this week that the US military has fewer than 1,000 ​Patriot interceptor missiles and fewer than 250 THAAD interceptors -- two ​key air defence systems.

Though Iran denies its forces have ⁠directed strikes from Iraqi territory, Iranian newspaper Hamshahri reported that four Iranian Revolutionary Guards advisers had been killed in the strikes on Iraq.

Iraq's dangerous rift

The strikes on Iraq expose a dangerous rift in that volatile country. The Shi'ite-led government is one of the few in the world to balance close military and diplomatic ties with both Tehran and Washington, ​but those divided loyalties are a constant source of tension and frequent domestic unrest.

The office of Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who took power just two months ago, urged ​the parties involved to avoid escalation ⁠and said he wanted to keep the country out of regional conflicts.

The Iraqi presidency denounced the strikes on the paramilitaries as "an unacceptable attack and a flagrant violation of Iraq's sovereignty", while also calling for a halt to attacks by armed groups against Iraq's neighbours.

The deep ties between Iran and Iraq, the two biggest Shi'ite-majority countries, are on display this week as hundreds of thousands of Iranian religious pilgrims head to shrines in Iraq for an annual observance of mourning for martyrs.

Hours before launching the ⁠attacks on Iraq, ​the US military said its air defences had averted a surprise Iranian attack on US troops in the region.

Jordan's military said it had shot ​down five Iranian missiles. US bases in Jordan have lately become primary Iranian targets, where three US service members were killed this month in the worst US losses since March.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had fired several ballistic missiles at US military installations in Jordan, and had struck three ​tankers that were attempting to transit through the Strait of Hormuz along an unauthorised route.