Iran is assessing the aftermath in terms of casualties and damage in the wake of the new flare-up in fighting, after the US launched a series of deadly attacks on the Islamic Republic Tuesday, focused in the south and Hormuz Strait area, and Tehran in expected fashion retaliated with drone-and-missile strikes against Gulf nations and Jordan.
Iran says the total death toll from the new American assault has risen to 18, especially following a an alleged mass casualty strike at a wedding celebration. It reportedly happened in happened Hormozgan province Tuesday night, with authorities having announced five were killed, including a child, and with at least 50 more wounded.
Regional media reports, "Six-year-old Amir Mohammad Karimi was among those killed, it said, adding that those wounded had been transferred to hospital in the nearby city of Minab."
"Earlier, Reza Shahidiyan, the governor of Sirik county, told the IRIB state broadcaster that 63 people had been injured, including 50 women and children," the report continues. "Other Iranian reporting has cited as many as 68 wounded."
Tehran officials, as well as Iran's Red Crescent Society, have made formal requests to global bodies, including the International Criminal Court, to take legal action for the civilian deaths and alleged war crimes.
BBC has cited the Pentagon as saying it is aware of reports about the strike but that US forces never targeted civilians.
As for known targets from the Iranian response, which saw an initial ballistic missile wave target US bases in Jordan, some of the following has emerged:
- Camp Titin & Prince Hassan Base (Jordan): ballistic strikes.
- Erbil Bases (Iraq): Combined missile/drone.
- Ali Al Salem (Kuwait): HQs & drone ramps hit.
- US Naval Base (Bahrain): Casualties & destroyed aircraft reported.
Videos which purport to show some of these strikes, particularly against NSA Bahrain (certainly not for the first time, as it's already suffered significant damage), have been widely circulating but remain unconfirmed.
In the Strait of Hormuz, the Revolutionary Guard has announced that two foreign oil tankers hit sea mines and are on fire after attempting to transit the waterway earlier in the day Wednesday. The IRGC said it occurred while the vessels used an "illegal route" through the the strait, state TV reports. Simultaneously Al Jazeera issued the following:
Bahri, a shipping company in Saudi Arabia, says two Filipino crew members were killed on board the SIDR vessel in an “incident” while transiting Hormuz.
As for the broader US naval blockade on Iranian ports, Reuters outlines that "Iran has gone about seven weeks without shipping meaningful crude exports through the Strait of Hormuz, as a U.S. naval blockade succeeds where years of sanctions failed by cutting off one of Tehran's main sources of foreign-currency earnings."
The commentary adds: "Unlike previous sanctions campaigns, when Iranian crude continued reaching buyers despite restrictions, the current blockade has stopped fresh crude cargoes reaching China, Tehran's only major remaining oil customer, increasing pressure on government finances and foreign-currency reserves."
The world is now witnessing the seventh month of a "3-4 week" war, and the White House is still pushing this 'the Iranian people will rise up' narrative. According to a late Tuesday Trump Truth Social Post:
I’m not trying to force Iran to the bargaining table, as ABC Fake News reported. I couldn’t care less if they sign a worthless, to them, agreement. I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing. They are just playing out the inevitable. When are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight? President DJT
In the opening days of Operation Epic Fury it must be recalled that Trump claimed "help is on the way!" - and yet now amid a stalemated situation US bases across the region have been degraded and destroyed.
Where is Secretary of State Marco Rubio these days?...
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is meanwhile touting that the US is 'cutting off the head of the snake.'
"When I was a kid in South Carolina, we lived near a swamp, and as a result, we’d end up with a lot of poison snakes in our yard. And you would take either a rake or a machete, or a paddle from a boat, and you cut the head off," he said Tuesday.
"But the snake, the tail kept wiggling, and you had to bury the head of the snake because the head of the snake was still poisonous, and there was venom there. So we are burying the head of the Iranian snake," he continued. "The snake doesn't know it’s dead yet, but it will stop wiggling when the sun goes down." But as yet, there are no signs of a rapidly collapsing state system, and there are no masses rising up in the streets.
Iranian leadership is vowing not to back down, but to continue inflicting pain on Washington, on the military, economic, and political fronts.
Parliament speaker goes off...
Iranian Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf on Wednesday has declared Iran does not reject negotiations but views them as a tool in its broader confrontation with the US and Israel, Tasnim reports. He is reiterating US must fulfill its commitments before Iran "takes steps" to reopen Hormuz - which suggests Tehran has not altogether abandoned the possibility of getting back to the negotiating table.
More Latest Developments
- US President Trump posted "I’m not trying to force Iran to the bargaining table, as ABC Fake News reported. I couldn’t care less if they sign a worthless, to them, agreement. I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing. They are just playing out the inevitable."
- US Treasury Secretary Bessent said Iran doesn't control the Strait of Hormuz and the US took out Iranian radar along the strait, as well as got 17mln bbls of crude out on Monday. Bessent said that China pays Iran in yuan and when yuan cannot be converted to dollars, Iran starves, while he said they are in an acceleration phase of Iran bankruptcy and maybe Iran will lash out more kinetically.
- US Central Command said forces successfully completed a wave of strikes against Iranian military targets on September 1st in which they struck targets including air defence sites, radar systems, maritime assets and facilities, mine laying capabilities, and communications sites.
- US strikes on Iranian targets on Tuesday included two Iranian government tankers under a new 'tanker for tanker' approved by US President Trump to deter Iranian attacks on tankers, according to Axios. Furthermore, US officials said around 100 targets were attacked during the strikes, while it was separately reported that the US assessed Iran was planning to expand attacks against commercial ships.
- Pakistan's foreign ministry said Army Chief Munir visited Tehran and generated substantial momentum on the Strait of Hormuz issue and that Pakistan is positive about all parties returning to the negotiating table.
- Iran's IRGC said two tankers were blown up and stopped a few hours ago after striking mines in the Strait of Hormuz. IRGC also warns of additional penalties for shipping companies.
- IRGC said it targeted US bases in Erbil, Iraq with missiles and drones. Iran's army also launched drone attacks on the US base in Bahrain, while Kuwaiti air defences confronted attacks by hostile drones. Additionally, the IRGC said it attacked a US Marines base in Jordan known as Camp Tibtain with missiles and claimed that a large number of US forces were killed in the attack. However, US and Jordan officials reported no casualties.
- Russia has been secretly helping Iran develop advanced supersonic cruise missiles, according to FT.
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