The U.S. launches new airstrikes on Iran and Tehran fires back at Gulf Arab states

The U.S. launches new airstrikes on Iran and Tehran fires back at Gulf Arab states. By The Associated Press.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- The United States launched new airstrikes against Iran early Thursday, and Tehran responded by targeting U.S.-allied Mideast countries in an exchange of fire that threatened an interim deal intended to help end the war in the Middle East.

Back-and-forth attacks, including a day earlier, have repeatedly threatened the ceasefire, but Thursday's appeared bigger all around, with sirens sounding at least three times in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet headquarters, and missiles targeting Kuwait and Qatar. Sirens sounded Thursday afternoon in Jordan as well, where the U.S. has stationed troops and aircraft.

An Iranian official accused the U.S. of launching an airstrike later Thursday targeting the area around Iran's sole nuclear power plant, and other explosions were reported elsewhere in the country during the afternoon.

In Iran, the two days of American airstrikes have killed at least 14 people and wounded another 78, Iran's Health Ministry said Thursday -- most of those reportedly members of the armed forces.

The U.S. military's Central Command said it hit some 90 targets across Iran, releasing black-and-white footage of what appeared to be strikes on an airport runway and missile launchers. The U.S. said the strikes were intended to "further degrade" Iran's ability "to threaten freedom of navigation" in the strait.

For the first time since April, U.S. strikes also appeared to target Iranian bridges. State media reported a strike on a railway bridge in Iran's northeastern Golestan province, and the Revolutionary Guard said two bridges were attacked on the route to Mashhad, where officials plan to bury the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday.

Meanwhile Thursday, the state-run IRNA news agency quoted Ehsan Jahanian, a local official in Bushehr, as accusing the U.S. of striking near Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant. He said the strike came around noon, hours after the U.S. military's Central Command said it had ended its strikes on Iran. Central Command did not immediately respond to a request for comment. During the Iran war, several strikes hit in the area around the plant, which is managed by Russian technicians, but caused no damage to the plant itself.

After leaving a NATO summit in Turkey, Trump posted several videos on his social media site of what he said were explosions in Iran and issued another warning to the Islamic Republic. "This is in retribution for yesterday's bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!" Trump wrote. Trump said earlier in the day that the latest back-and-forth fighting would not result in "long-term" military action. "Anything that happens is going to happen very fast," Trump said.

The exchange of fire began after Iran attacked three tankers in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a key negotiator in talks seeking a permanent end to the war, was defiant in a post on X on Thursday morning: "America still hasn't learned that bullying and breaking promises are no longer cost-free. Let me put it plainly: If you strike, you'll get hit."

Trump fueled concerns that the war could restart by saying Wednesday that the interim agreement to pause the fighting was "over." He added that he would allow negotiations to continue, though he cast doubt on the outcome. "They can talk, but I think they're wasting their time," he said.