U.S. strikes Iran again as Tehran targets American allies in Gulf region

The United States struck Iranian military targets along Iran's southern coast on September 2, and Iran responded hours later by launching missiles and drones at American bases and allied positions across the Gulf, renewing direct military conflict after a month-long pause in the six-month-old war. At least 18 people were killed in the U.S. strikes according to Iran's health minister, per PBS NewsHour reporting. A U.S. missile struck a home in Kuhestak, a coastal town overlooking the Strait of Hormuz during a wedding celebration, killing four people including two children aged 4 and 16, with at least 68 wounded, according to NPR's reporting. A regional source told PBS News that the U.S. military was targeting a communications tower in the neighborhood where the wedding was held. U.S. Central Command stated in response that the military "never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC," the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. U.S. Central Command said the strike campaign focused on Iranian military targets, including air defense sites, radar systems, and maritime assets, according to NPR. The U.S. military struck two Iranian government tankers and nearly 100 military targets under a new tanker-for-tanker policy approved by the president, marking the first time the U.S. has struck Iranian tankers in retaliation, per PBS NewsHour reporting. Iran has said four members of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and 10 members of the Guard's volunteer Basij forces died in the U.S. attacks, according to NPR. Iran fired missiles and drones at U.S. bases in Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain early on September 3. Kuwait and Jordan's night skies were illuminated by Iranian drones and missiles that were intercepted, according to NPR's reporting. In Iraq, Kurdish authorities said they intercepted 10 drones laden with explosives in the Irbil area, and Iranian television reported that American bases in Irbil had been targeted. Israel's military said Iran-backed Hezbollah fired two explosive drones at its soldiers in southern Lebanon, without causing casualties, per NPR. President Trump said the renewed campaign would not last long but threatened to hit Tehran "very hard" if the conflict over the Strait of Hormuz remains unresolved, according to PBS NewsHour. The six-month war has led to a spike in oil prices. Since fighting resumed, the price of Brent crude oil has climbed to around $95, up more than 30% from the start of the war, according to NPR's reporting. Last week, U.S. Central Command's Admiral Brad Cooper said the strait had been secretly cleared of mines and the U.S. Navy had helped nearly 1,500 commercial vessels carrying some 750 million barrels of oil pass through in recent months, per NPR. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said U.S. sanctions will "asphyxiate" the Iranian regime, describing it as a combination with kinetic strikes and the blockade, per PBS NewsHour. Ebrahim Azizi, chairperson of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said on X: "Make no mistake: these crimes will not go unpunished." Mohsen Rezaei, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said on X: "You will soon see that Iran's new strategy on the battlefield, in diplomacy, and in confronting the economic blockade will shatter your foundations." Hamidreza Azizi, senior Iran analyst at the Crisis Group, cautioned that "at some point, one of the sides may see a need to escalate in order to break this cycle," potentially bringing the two sides to a full-scale war, according to NPR. Two weapons experts told The Associated Press that images of fragments of a missile used in the strike on Kuhestak were from a U.S.-made SLAM-ER cruise missile, according to NPR. Trevor Ball of Bellingcat said the SLAM-ER was "developed as a very precise weapon" that can be retargeted in flight by a human operator watching by infrared camera. N.R. Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services, said the air-launched SLAM-ER missile is also used by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, neither of which has reported carrying out any recent strikes on Iran, per NPR reporting. U.S. Central Command spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins said the U.S. military was "aware of the reports, which originated from Iranian state media, and we are looking into them" but would not say if CENTCOM had launched a formal investigation, according to NPR.