Iran vows US will ‘regret its new attacks’ after people killed at wedding

Iran’s armed forces have said the United States “will regret its new attacks” as hostilities flared again following a month without military action.In a post on X, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) spokesperson Sardar Mohebi said: “Severe punishment awaits the aggressors, and America will regret its new attacks.”At least two people were killed and dozens wounded at a wedding in the coastal city of Bandar Kuhestak in Iran’s southern Sirik county during the US attacks, Ahmad Nafisi, deputy governor of Hormozgan province, told Iranian state television in a phone call. “A residential home was attacked while people were holding a wedding ceremony,” Nafisi said, adding that “two people were reported martyred and a number of others wounded”.The US Central Command said on Tuesday that the strikes “follow recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members deployed to the region”.On Sunday, the US military said it struck rocket launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz.Iran responded by launching missiles at US sites in Jordan, which were intercepted, while the United Arab Emirates said it stopped an Iranian drone over its waters.US president Donald Trump acknowledged on Monday that more strikes might be necessary.He asserted that the US and Israeli bombardment has left Iran “a failed nation”.Trump said that much of the country’s political leadership has been killed, Iran’s economy is staggered by surging inflation and its military is devastated.“That doesn’t mean we won’t smack them,” Trump told reporters. “We’ll see what happens.”A boy walks in shallow water as commercial vessels are seen anchored in the background in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran. Photograph: Razieh Poudat/ISNA/AP The US and Iran have been engaged in an intermittent war for more than six months, with the recent lull in fighting lasting a month.A return to open conflict would be dangerous for the region, where Iran has targeted US military bases and infrastructure in Gulf countries since the war began.Iranian state TV reported the sound of explosions in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas but did not provide details.The renewed fighting also comes after Trump appeared to pivot last month toward punishing Iran economically with sanctions, with the president promising an “economic D-Day” against a country that has withstood nearly five decades of punishing American sanctions.The Trump administration argued that it was only a matter of time and that striking the right economic target would get Tehran to its breaking point.Messages are written alongside photos of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei and late Supreme Leader ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran. Photograph: Vahid Salemi/AP But at the same time, US stockpiles of advanced weapons have been diminishing, while the war has been unpopular among Americans and could make Republicans vulnerable in November’s midterm elections.The US military has tried to cast the renewed fighting as limited.Central Command said in a statement on X on Monday that its attacks on Iranian targets on Sunday were narrowly focused on preventing IRGC forces from placing new mines in the Strait of Hormuz.“US forces took limited, precise action against IRGC minelaying forces posing an imminent threat in the Strait of Hormuz,” Central Command stated.A man holds an Iranian flag during a street celebration marking the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday in Tehran (Vahid Salemi/AP) “In essence, Iran created the threat and the US military eliminated it to protect civilian mariners, commercial shipping, and the free flow of global commerce.”Central Command reiterated on Tuesday that its attacks only followed Iranian aggression against commercial vessels and American troops in the region. – AP