Iran's army on Thursday said it targeted US bases in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, despite threats of further strikes by US President Donald Trump.
"This morning, the army hit the satellite communication systems, equipment depots and fighter aircraft hangars of the terrorist US army at the Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base in Kuwait with missiles and drones," the army said in a statement carried by state TV.
It added that "the location of forces and radar systems of the child-killing US army at the Al Minhad Air Base in the UAE were also attacked by missiles and drones of the army".
Meanwhile, Kuwait's foreign ministry lambasted Tehran after the latest overnight attack targeting the tiny Gulf state, as hostilities between Iran and the United States reignited over the past days.
In a statement, the foreign ministry called the strikes "a direct threat to its (Kuwait's) security and stability, and the safety of its citizens and residents on its territory, and a grave breach of the rules of international law".
UAE leader, Trump discuss latest development
United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and his US counterpart Donald Trump discuss the latest development in the Middle East in a phone call, Al Jazeera reported, citing UAE’s state news agency.
It did not elaborate on the ongoing fighting between the US and Iran.
Talks included “ways to further strengthen ties” in support of their “mutual interests”, it said.
Iranian, US leaders trade threats after ‘heaviest fighting’
Iran and the United States traded threats after some of the heaviest fighting in weeks engulfed the Middle East, deepening the foes' stalemate six months into the war.
President Donald Trump said US forces staged a "very heavy attack" on Iranian targets overnight and are "prepared to do another one any time we want".
Tehran's security chief warned that Iran had adopted a "new strategy" in the war that began in late February with US-Israeli attacks on the Islamic Republic.
"You will soon see that Iran's new strategy on the battlefield, in diplomacy and in confronting the economic blockade will shatter your foundations," Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei wrote on X.
Washington has vowed to ramp up economic pressure on Iran, threatening its allies with sanctions.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright pledged on Wednesday that a plan for expanded sanctions targeting Iran's economic partners would deliver "absolutely maximum pressure".
Trump also suggested on Wednesday renaming the Strait of Hormuz, the vital oil waterway that Tehran has effectively shut for six months, as "Trump Strait" -- although he implied later that he wasn't serious.
"Now that we have it under U.S.A. control, should we change the name Hormuz Strait to TRUMP STRAIT???" the US president said in a post on Truth Social.
Trump told reporters that the renewed US campaign against Iran would not continue for “too long” after the biggest exchange of fire between Tehran and Washington since July.
Trump said Iran was trying to build a rocket that drops mines and the US had destroyed it. He also says Iran had been working to restore its radar and missile systems, which were also targeted in the US strikes.
“We took out all of the new equipment that they tried to build along the Strait of Hormuz - some defensive, some offensive … It was a very heavy attack last night, and we’re prepared to do another one any time we want,” he says.
Iran targeted US bases in Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region after extensive US bombardment on Tuesday of sites across Iran.
Tehran reacted with fury after the Iranian Red Crescent said a US attack that hit a wedding in Iran's south killed four people, including a child, and wounded more than 50 people.
"The truth of this unlawful war of choice -- and the true face of the war crime -- is in Sirik, where a wedding ceremony was brutally bombed as part of America's desperate struggle to conceal its failure," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei posted on X.
The US military did not address the incident directly.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) spokesman Tim Hawkins said "the US military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC," referring to Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
- 'Acts like Satan' -
Iran's top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf lashed out at Washington over the wedding attack, calling the United States "Satan."
"If a power acts like Satan, picks targets like Satan, and kills like Satan, it's Satan," he posted on X.
The latest round of fighting began when Washington hit Iranian targets on Sunday, the first known strikes in several weeks.
Tehran's forces then targeted US troops in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, and projectiles struck two oil tankers in unclaimed attacks, one of which killed two Filipino sailors, according to a Saudi shipping company.
Trump said the US strikes were in retaliation for an Iranian attempt to plant sea mines in the Strait and for firing missiles at a base in Jordan.
Iranians expressed regret at the return to hostilities.
Hossein Moazami, 50, who is self-employed, called the attacks "truly distressing."
"I hope they all return to the negotiating table because the only people suffering from this are the Iranian people," he said. "The Americans are on the other side of the world and nothing happens to them."
A video shared by an Iranian government account showed debris and damage at what it said was the wedding site in Sirik following the US strike, with people heard screaming in the background.
"It is a very saddening incident...Thank God the casualties were not higher," Ali Mallahi, father of the bride and owner of the building that was hit, said in a video carried by state TV.
The war began February 28 with US-Israeli attacks on Iran that killed its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
A fragile ceasefire collapsed after attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of world oil supplies previously flowed.
Israel's defence minister said meanwhile that his country was prepared to respond "with great force" if attacked by Iran over the Jewish high holiday season, which begins in mid-September.
"For now, they are striking throughout the region except us," Israel Katz told a conference hosted by Israeli media outlets.
US escorts 18m barrels of oil through Hormuz
The US military escorted 40 commercial vessels Tuesday that were carrying 18 million barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, CNN reports, marking a wartime high for the operations.
US forces struck nearly 60 Iranian military targets around the waterway during the operation, two US officials familiar with the operations told CNN.
The operation targeted Iranian air defence sites, radar systems, maritime assets, mine-laying capabilities and communications installations. US forces also destroyed several anti-ship cruise missiles during the escort.
Before the war began more than six months ago, roughly 20 million barrels of oil transited the strait daily. On Monday, more than 17 million barrels passed through, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC.
Israel says prepared to 'respond with great force' if Iran attacks
Israel's defence minister said on Wednesday his country was prepared to respond "with great force" if attacked by Iran, after Iranian forces targeted US military positions across the region.
Israel Katz said Israeli forces were prepared for a possible attack over the Jewish high holiday season, which begins in mid-September.
"For now, they are striking throughout the region except us," he told a conference hosted by Israeli news site Ynet and newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.
"But there is a possibility that they will attack us. We are prepared for that defensively."
If Iran did attack, Israel would "respond with great force, independently of anyone else", Katz said, adding that "our planes are ready to take off".
Israel launched the Middle East war alongside the United States in late February, but has stayed on the sidelines militarily since President Donald Trump sealed a ceasefire deal in April -- even after that truce later fell apart.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that would likely remain the case, while echoing Katz's remarks in an interview with the broadcaster France 24 that aired on Wednesday.
"If we will be attacked by Iran, we will surely respond heavily, but I'm not sure that Iran will do that mistake," he said.
"We don't have the plans to join the war right now."
Iran launched a wave of retaliatory overnight attacks on US sites across the Middle East following extensive American bombardment on Tuesday night.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards announced attacks on US bases in Jordan, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, in the six-month conflict's heaviest exchange in weeks.
"They like to attack on Jewish holidays because they hate Jews," Katz said. "But we are prepared both defensively and offensively, in coordination with the United States in this regard."
Iran's Islamic republic, whose leaders are virulently anti-Israel and support likeminded armed groups such as Hamas, constitutionally recognises its own Jewish community, which is estimated to number in the thousands.
Israel in the opening salvo of the war killed Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.–Agencies