US strikes Iran after Trump's expletive-filled warning
What's the story
The United States military has launched airstrikes in Iran, marking the first such action since President Donald Trump temporarily halted a bombing campaign to make room for negotiation to restart. The strikes, the US said, were in retaliation for an Iranian missile attack on an American base in Jordan. The US Central Command confirmed that the attacks started at 8:00pm ET (0000 GMT), calling them a "powerful response" to attempted Iranian assaults on US forces in the Middle East.
Presidential warning
Trump promises hard retaliation against Iran
The airstrikes came shortly after President Trump had promised a "hard" retaliation against Iran.
In an interview with Fox News, he said, "We're going to beat the f***ing s**t of them. We'll be hitting them hard."
He added that Tehran's acknowledgment of its attack was a mistake and declared it was America's turn to respond.
Escalating conflict
Iranian missiles intercepted in Jordan
The Iranian missile attack on Jordan had been carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which claimed to have targeted an airbase and a command center.
However, all missiles were intercepted by the US military.
An Iranian agency warned that as long as American threats continued, so would Tehran's resistance.
Maritime tensions
Bombings halted briefly
Trump paused US attacks against Iran last week after 13 straight days of strikes.
Iran, in turn, had halted undertaking retaliation strikes against American troops and sites in the Middle East, including in the Gulf States and Jordan.
Several US media sites claimed that the decision to suspend operations was taken in part due to concerns that interceptor missiles deployed to defend American bases and allies from Iranian assault were running short—a claim that US officials openly denied.