DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran fired on U.S. allies in the Gulf early Wednesday following a night of U.S. bombing that Iranian officials said included a deadly attack on a wedding party. The latest violence ended a month-long lull in fighting between the United States and Iran. The six-month war has caused oil prices to rise, shaken the global economy and is posing growing political problems for US President Donald Trump’s Republican Party ahead of November’s midterm elections. Fighting between the United States and Iran has intensified since the US military hit Iranian rocket launchers on an island in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, saying Iran planned to use them to fire mines into the channel. Iran retaliated by firing missiles at US bases in Jordan, all of which were intercepted. US military resources are stretched and political pressure in Washington is mounting, as Iran’s economy falters and its currency collapses. Neither can continue indefinitely in this zone between a full-scale war and a truce, said Hamidreza Azizi, senior Iran analyst at Crisis Group, an international think tank. “At some point, one party may see the need to escalate the situation to break this cycle,” he warned. “So that could bring the two sides to a point that they have been trying to avoid until now, which is a full-scale war.” US allies in the region defend Iranian attacks. Iran also fired drones into Kuwait on Tuesday night that were intercepted. On Monday, the United Arab Emirates said it had intercepted an Iranian drone over its waters. Bahrain, which hosts a major US naval base, said its air defense systems intercepted incoming fire from Iran early Wednesday, accusing Iran of “attacks against civilians” in a statement issued by its military. Also on Wednesday, Kuwait’s government communications center said a fire broke out at a residential complex in the capital after it was hit by an Iranian drone at dawn. He said the fire had been contained and there were no casualties. “You will soon see that Iran’s new strategy on the battlefield, in diplomacy and in confronting the economic blockade will shatter its foundations,” the recently appointed head of Iran’s powerful Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, said in X. In Iraq, where Iranian-backed forces are active, Kurdish authorities said they had intercepted 10 drones loaded with explosives in the Irbil area. Iranian television reported that US bases in Irbil had been attacked. Israel’s military also said that Iran-backed Hezbollah fired two explosive drones at its soldiers in southern Lebanon, but there were no casualties. US Central Command said Tuesday’s strikes focused on Iranian military targets, including air defense sites, radar systems and maritime assets. Subscribe to Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the day’s biggest headlines. The victims in Iran include people at a wedding party. A US strike hit a house where a wedding was being held in Kuhestak, a small coastal town overlooking the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian media. At least five people were killed, including two women and two children aged four and 16, and at least 68 were wounded, Iranian officials said. Several strong explosions rocked Kuhestak, with fireballs lighting up the night sky, according to security camera images released by the semi-official Fars news agency. Footage from Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency showed several hospitalized children being treated for injuries at a hospital in the nearby town of Minab, where a U.S. missile strike on the first day of the war hit an elementary school, killing more than 100 children. Footage from the Iranian Red Crescent showed rescue workers entering a damaged house after the attack, with debris scattered everywhere. It showed a hole in the roof of a house in a densely populated neighborhood. Two weapons experts told The Associated Press that images of missile fragments, which Iranian media said was used in the attack, were from a U.S.-made SLAM-ER cruise missile. Trevor Ball, a conflict researcher at research group Bellingcat, said SLAM-ER was “developed as a very precise weapon” that can be retargeted in flight by a human operator observing via infrared camera. NR Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services, said the air-launched missile is also used by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Neither has reported carrying out recent attacks against Iran. “Make no mistake: these crimes will not go unpunished,” Ebrahim Azizi, chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian parliament, said in X. The US military said it was aware of the report but “never targets civilians.” Separately, Iran has said that four members of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and 10 members of the Basij Guard’s volunteer forces were killed in the US strikes. Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed During last month’s lull in fighting, the United States increased economic pressure on Iran, which is suffering from soaring inflation, negative growth and a collapsing currency, as Washington sought to fully open the Strait of Hormuz. About a fifth of the world’s traded oil was transported through the key waterway before Israel and the United States attacked Iran on Feb. 28 and Iran largely shut it down in response. Despite many pronouncements from Washington that the strait is open, only a handful of ships pass through it each day and Iran has regularly attacked ships. On Wednesday, Saudi shipping company Bahri said two Filipino sailors were killed in an attack Monday night as their ship transited the strait. Since fighting resumed, the price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, has risen above $95, more than 30% since the start of the war. A ceasefire agreement reached in June quickly fell apart amid exchanges of strikes that same month. Mediator Pakistan has been working to restart talks and said Wednesday that it remains committed to both the United States and Iran. On Tuesday night, Trump said he would not force Iran to the negotiating table. “I couldn’t care less if they sign an agreement that has no value to them. I like our position much better now, with almost total control of the Strait of Hormuz and their economy completely collapsing. They are simply playing out the inevitable. When will the Iranian people stand up and fight?” Trump wrote on social media.___Magdy reported from Cairo. Lee Keath and Fatma Khaled in Cairo, Sarah El Deeb in Beirut and Stella Martany in Irbil, Iraq, contributed to this story.
