Iran attacks US bases in Jordan and Bahrain in retaliation for American strikes

Tehran, Iran - Iran attacked American bases in Jordan and Bahrain on Wednesday, warning its Gulf neighbors that they had a "responsibility" to stop the US and Israel from using their territory to strike the Islamic republic.

An Iranian missile is launched, as Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had carried out attacks against a US base in Jordan and 21 other targets in the Gulf on Wednesday in retaliation for American strikes around the Strait of Hormuz, from a location given as Tehran on June 10, 2026.
An Iranian missile is launched, as Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had carried out attacks against a US base in Jordan and 21 other targets in the Gulf on Wednesday in retaliation for American strikes around the Strait of Hormuz, from a location given as Tehran on June 10, 2026.  © WANA via Pool/via REUTERS

The strikes came after the US carried out its own attacks on Iran in response to the shooting down of an American helicopter, straining a ceasefire that took effect in April.

The attacks have cast doubt on President Donald Trump's earlier claim that negotiations were in their "final throes" before reaching an enduring settlement to end the Middle East war.

The war, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February, threw the region into chaos and rattled global markets before a shaky truce began.

Iranian forces fired "long-range missiles" and "targeted and destroyed four major targets" in Jordan, including F35 fighter nests at an air base and the US command center in Al-Azraq, the country's Revolutionary Guards said in a statement quoted by state-run IRNA news agency on Wednesday.

Jordan's military said it shot down five missiles from Iran, with no casualties or material damage, while Bahrain said it intercepted and destroyed "a number of Iranian aerial attacks."

An AFP correspondent in Bahrain's capital Manama said several loud explosions could be heard early in the morning, as Iran's Guards said they had struck another US base there.

Elsewhere, the Kuwaiti military said its air defenses were engaging "hostile aerial targets." Iran has recently carried out deadly attacks there too.

The incidents came after the US military said it had "completed" what Trump portrayed as a retaliatory assault on Iran over the downing of an Apache attack helicopter.

US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees American forces in the Middle East, said on X that it had "struck Iranian air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz with precision munitions from US Air Force and Navy fighter jets."

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had earlier threatened payback, saying on X: "The U.S. (has) opted to test our determination. Our Powerful Armed Forces will leave no attack or threat unanswered."

Israel continues devastating assault on Lebanon

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Tyre, Lebanon, on June 9, 2026.
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Tyre, Lebanon, on June 9, 2026.  © KAWANT HAJU / AFP

During the US strikes, Iranian media reported at least two series of explosions along Iran's southern coast near the Strait of Hormuz.

Axios reported that US forces had attacked several Iranian air defense systems and radar systems around the strait.

Hours earlier, Trump had said talks to end the three-month-long war were in their final stages – a claim he has made repeatedly in the past few weeks.

Asked whether it would be a matter of days or weeks, the US leader said it would take "two or three days."

But after the downing of the helicopter on Monday, Trump said in a telephone interview with ABC News that the US was responding "in a strong manner."

"And I believe the response should be very strong, very powerful, and that's what this one is," he said.

The ceasefire had already faced a serious test over the weekend when Iran and Israel briefly resumed their attacks, before later announcing a halt.

Iran has insisted any deal to end the war must include a truce in Lebanon, where Israel has killed more than 3,600 people since March 2.

Lebanese officials said 11 people were killed in airstrikes on the southern city of Tyre on Tuesday. The Israeli military has warned the entire city to evacuate.

An AFP correspondent saw residents of Tyre, fleeing and heavy traffic heading north after the Israeli warning.

Another correspondent in the coastal city of Sidon, further north, saw displaced people arriving from Tyre, some with belongings strapped to the roofs of their cars.

Oil prices rise as Iran war stretches on

Children sit in the bed of a pickup truck waiting in traffic, as people flee from Tyre in southern Lebanon to seek refuge in more northerly Sidon, on June 9, 2026.
Children sit in the bed of a pickup truck waiting in traffic, as people flee from Tyre in southern Lebanon to seek refuge in more northerly Sidon, on June 9, 2026.  © MAHMOUD ZAYYAT / AFP

The renewed fighting has also overshadowed efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway for global fuel supplies that Iran has blockaded since the start of the war.

Crude prices rose 1% on Wednesday amid dimming prospects of a deal, having fallen as much as 5% at one point the previous day on optimism an agreement would be reached.

On Tuesday, Araghchi urged foreign forces to leave the strait and surrounding areas, warning that they faced a risk of being caught in the crossfire if they remained.

"Foreign forces in proximity to our territory are at constant risk... (the) best solution is for them to leave," he said.

The Apache helicopter is the second crewed aircraft that Washington has confirmed was shot down by Iran during the war, following the loss of an F-15 fighter plane in April.

CENTCOM said the two crew members were rescued after the helicopter went down near the coast of Oman.

Cover photo: WANA via Pool/via REUTERS