Updated July 30, 2026 at 8:57 AM EDT
AMMAN, Jordan — The U.S. military said it launched a "heavy wave" of airstrikes in Iran Thursday against military command centers and missile facilities. Iran says a residential building was also hit, killing two children.
The U.S. strikes were in retaliation for what U.S. Central Command called "an attempted surprise attack" with ballistic missiles on Tuesday against U.S. forces in the Middle East. Iran said on Wednesday its attacks targeted the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in the eastern desert. The Jordanian base is a U.S. air hub and the frequent target of attacks, including one that killed three U.S. service members in mid July.
Jordan's military said it shot down five Iranian missiles targeting its territory early Thursday.
President Trump told reporters Wednesday regarding Iran: "We're going to be hitting them very hard because it's our turn to hit them."
In Iraq, where the U.S. and Saudi Arabia attacked seven paramilitary bases on Wednesday, Iran-backed militias said they have given the Iraqi government a week-long deadline to respond to those attacks. The militias said at least 20 fighters were killed in the attacks. Iran's Revolutionary Guard said four of its members, who serve as military advisors with the militias, were killed in those strikes.
The paramilitary groups are officially part of Iraqi government security forces, but some of the most powerful militias are beyond government control.
The U.S. has pressed successive Iraqi leaders, including newly appointed Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, to rein in Iran-allied militias with little success. Zaidi and President Trump met in Washington in July. The U.S. president said they had "tremendous chemistry."
Zaidi is a businessman with little political experience chosen after the U.S. vetoed a leading candidate, Nouri al-Malaki, who had previously assumed power with U.S. help but was deemed to be too close to Iran.
Iran-backed militias flourished in Iraq after the security vacuum created in the U.S. invasion in 2003 that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. The militias and Iran-backed political parties are now woven into the fabric of Iraq's security and politics.
Iran said four of the security personnel killed in U.S. and Saudi attacks Wednesday in Iraq were members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
At funeral ceremonies Wednesday in Baghdad, some mourners chanted "death to America" and death to Saudi rulers. The U.S. and Saudi Arabia launched the attacks during a major Shia religious commemoration which culminates next Wednesday. Millions of pilgrims converge on the holy city of Karbala, south of Baghdad, for Arbaeen, the 40th day of mourning for the killing of Imam Hussein 14 centuries ago, a definitive event in the schism between Shia and Sunni Islam.
Prime Minister Zaidi appeared to have canceled a planned trip to Saudi Arabia after the attacks. Iraq's Shia-led governments who took power after the toppling of Saddam Hussein have spent years trying to repair relations with Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Gulf states.
In the Strait of Hormuz, Iran said Thursday it had turned back two oil tankers being guided by U.S. aircraft trying to cross the shipping waterway. It said one of them caught fire, but gave no details.
Iran also said it allowed a Qatari tanker to pass through the channel after Qatar coordinated with Iran. There was no confirmation from Qatar.
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