Iran launches strikes on neighbours as US resumes blockade and Trump threatens to hit power plants

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) early Wednesday claimed responsibility for attacks on US Fifth Fleet command-and-control, logistical, petroleum, and military equipment installations in Bahrain, as well as a US base in Kuwait. The IRGC vowed to continue assaults on US military assets in the region.

These attacks came as the US military reported carrying out a fourth night of strikes against Iran lasting seven hours, and after President Donald Trump reinstated a blockade of Iranian shipping in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday.

According to local media, the IRGC said its strikes were in response to US military actions and attempts to control the Strait of Hormuz. If Washington continues to prevent regional oil and gas exports by controlling maritime passages, the IRGC threatened to shut down other energy lines serving US and partner interests. The guards stated that regional energy exports will be "for everyone or for no one."

Missile alert warnings were issued in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan early Wednesday. Jordan reported shooting down three incoming Iranian missiles, while the Kuwaiti army said it repelled Iranian drone assaults. Iran claimed it targeted US military facilities at Jordan's Azraq air base for a second time.

US Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, head of Central Command, confirmed that Iran launched dozens of missiles and drones at neighboring Gulf Arab countries. CENTCOM stated that US forces conducted another wave of strikes over seven hours, hitting dozens of targets including Iranian missile and drone sites, naval capabilities, and coastal defense systems.

Meanwhile, President Trump threatened in a Fox News interview to strike Iran's power plants and bridges if Tehran does not negotiate. "We're going to knock out all their power plants. We're gonna knock out their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate," he said. Trump added that energy targets would be saved for last.

The ongoing tit-for-tat strikes across the Middle East and efforts by both nations to control the waterway—through which a fifth of the world's oil and gas trade passes in peacetime—risk pushing the region back into all-out war. The US first imposed a blockade in mid-April, lifted it in mid-June after an interim deal, but talks have since stalled.