At least four people were killed and 35 others were heavily wounded when a U.S. strike hit a home hosting a wedding ceremony in southern Iran, a provincial official said Tuesday.
The strike took place in Sirik county in Hormozgan province, Iranian state TV reported.
The U.S. military hit targets in Iran on Tuesday and Tehran fired missiles and drones in response as hostilities flare once again in an intermittent war that has lasted more than six months.
The U.S. strikes followed others on Sunday that abruptly ended a month without military action and threatened to fully reignite a conflict that has spiked global oil prices and posed political problems for Republicans in November's midterm congressional elections. The renewed fighting comes after President Donald Trump had appeared to pivot toward trying to bend Iran to his will through economic sanctions.
"If the failed Nation of Iran retaliates for this very justified attack, they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level, but it will not be the biggest attack of them all, that is waiting in the wings,” Trump warned on social media.
U.S. Central Command said the latest strikes were in response to Tehran trying to attack commercial ships and American forces in the Middle East.
Iranian semiofficial media later said the country began firing missiles and drones in response to U.S. strikes. The Fars and Tasnim news agencies, seen as close to Iran’s security forces, reported late Tuesday that it had launched such operations.
Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff and its joint military command said the armed forces would deliver what they described as "crushing and devastating blows” against the United States.
Explosions were reported across several southern Iranian coastal areas, including the port city of Bandar Abbas that is home to naval and air force facilities as well as Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Witnesses in Bandar Abbas told The Associated Press that the explosions were stronger than those on Sunday and said they saw smoke rising from the eastern part of the city on the strait.
Iranian state television said U.S. strikes hit a fishmeal factory on Qeshm Island and several civilian sites in Hormozgan province. It said a fishing pier and a Ports and Maritime Organization tower in Sirik were among the locations struck.
State TV also reported that the U.S. military struck the civilian Jiroft Airport in central Iran's Kerman province, saying a projectile struck an area outside the runway and caused no casualties or damage to airport infrastructure.
The U.S. and Iran are both seeking control over the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway off Iran's coast through which 20% of the world's oil normally flows. Tehran effectively closed it after the war began.