Iran strikes back at US targets in Gulf states and warns Trump faces a 'crushing response' if attacks continue as ceasefire crumbles

By PERKIN AMALARAJ, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER Published: 18:18, 9 July 2026 | Updated: 18:21, 9 July 2026 Iran has today launched retaliatory strikes against US military targets in Gulf states, warning Donald Trump he faces a 'crushing response' if American attacks continue.   Iran's army said that it had launched attacks at US Patriot systems in Kuwait, an early-warning site in Qatar and a US Army fuel depot in Bahrain. Kuwait said its armed forces had engaged with a cruise missile, three ballistic missiles and 10 drones in its airspace, and that one person had been injured from falling shrapnel. Sirens also sounded in Jordan after missiles launched from Iran were detected. Eight were intercepted, with no injuries or damage reported. The Revolutionary Guards later said Iran had fired 10 ballistic missiles at Jordan's Azraq military base, which is used by US forces, and also a US military control centre in the Middle East, without elaborating. Qatar, which hosts the largest US base in the region and has often mediated between Washington and its adversaries including Tehran, condemned attacks on commercial shipping but also called for a return to diplomacy.   Iran's Revolutionary Guards Navy said the US attacks and intervention in redirecting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz were disrupting the waterway's gradual reopening. The Guards said the number of vessels transiting the strait under Iranian supervision had recovered to about 50% of pre-war levels over the past two weeks, adding that permission was being granted only to ships using routes designated by Tehran. Any further US intervention will draw a 'crushing response', the Guards said. The US military said on Wednesday that its latest strikes were aimed at keeping the Strait open after it said Iranian forces had struck three tankers in the area. The assault came hours after Trump said he believed the interim ceasefire with Iran to be 'over'. CENTCOM released footage of more air strikes on Iranian military targets, after the regime carried out further attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz   President Trump posted images to his Truth Social platform of more strikes on Iran  Iran threatened Donald Trump (pictured) with a 'crushing response'  While Iran has not claimed responsibility for the ship attacks, analysts say Tehran uses such actions to gain leverage in negotiations. Oil prices, which had spiked amid concerns over the impact of the renewed attacks on shipping and global supplies, fell back on Thursday as investors weighed whether the flare-up was tactical and temporary or might augur a complete collapse in the ceasefire. Iranian officials said the US attacks had killed 14 people and injured 78 across five provinces on July 8 and 9, state media reported. The Fars news agency said one US strike had hit a rail bridge used for trade with Russia and China. Several explosions were heard on Thursday morning in Iran's Bushehr province and in Bandar Abbas, a port city on Iran's south coast, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported. Bushehr is home to a Russian-built nuclear power plant and a local official later told state media that a US projectile had hit the perimeter area of the facility. The perimeter had already been hit several times before an April 8 ceasefire.  US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Wednesday its forces had struck approximately 90 Iranian military targets, including air defence systems, coastal surveillance assets, and missile and drone storage sites. 'This is in retribution for yesterday's bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!' Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. However, the US leader, who was attending a NATO summit in Turkey, also said he did not think the latest military strikes would escalate into a full-fledged conflict with Iran. 'Anything that happens is going to be over very quickly... and will only make it safer, including for oil,' he told reporters in Ankara. Asked before the NATO summit on Wednesday whether the memorandum of understanding with Iran was over, Trump said: 'It's a very interesting question. To me, I think it's ​over. I don't want to deal with them.' The strikes follow up bombings that caused large fires at Iranian ports on Wednesday night  Trump earlier threatened to reimpose the US naval blockade on Iranian ports, the lifting of which was a crucial term of the ceasefire deal signed last month An oil tanker burns after being hit by an Iranian strike in the ship-to-ship transfer zone at Khor al-Zubair port near Basra, Iraq, late Wednesday, March 11  The attacks came on the day that Iran buried its slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a shrine in Mashhad, the culmination of a week of mass funeral processions and rallies. Khamenei was killed in a US airstrike on the first day of the war on February 28. Khamenei's body was carried by truck slowly through crammed streets towards the Shrine of Imam Reza. Black-clad mourners waved Iranian flags, photographs of the late leader and red placards with revolutionary slogans. The foreign ministers of Turkey and Oman also stressed the need to avoid further military escalation in separate calls with their Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi. In a call with the army chief of Pakistan, which has also mediated in the conflict, Araghchi condemned what he called US 'warmongering policies'. The Strait of Hormuz handled about a fifth of global oil supplies before the war. Tehran has since largely taken control of the strait, allowing it to force a stalemate in its confrontation with the world's most powerful military. 'The Strait of Hormuz will be reopened only under Iranian arrangements, not through US threats,' Iran's top negotiator, Mohammad ​Baqer Qalibaf, wrote on X. Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz on Thursday said his country was prepared to resume its military campaign against Iran if needed, vowing to do so 'with even greater force'. 'The army is ready and on alert for a resumption of fighting, in order to regain air superiority and strike again... in Iran, to eliminate threats, including a third time if necessary. If we have to go back, we will go back, with even greater force,' Katz said at a military ceremony.