America and Iran exchanged fire across the Middle East on Wednesday, as officials in each nations called into query diplomatic efforts to stop the war because it threatens to again spin uncontrolled.
The U.S. launched an eleventh night of airstrikes on the Islamic Republic, hitting targets across the nation as air defence systems opened fire over the capital, Tehran. It wasn’t immediately clear what specific targets the Americans went after in these nighttime strikes.
Iran retaliated with missile and drone fire targeting Jordan’s port city of Aqaba, once more attacking just on the doorstep of Israel. The U.S. has been using Israel’s principal Ben-Gurion International Airport to host its refueler aircraft and has put fighter jets at bases within the country, but Iran has been hesitant to strike for fear of bringing the Israeli military back into the conflict.
A missile alert sounded in Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia warned residents of the Persian Gulf city of Dammam to hunt shelter. Iran has repeatedly attacked Gulf countries in response to U.S. airstrikes. Saudi authorities later lifted the warning in Dammam, saying the danger had passed, without elaborating.
Meanwhile, shipping stays largely stalled through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded passed in peacetime. Iran’s attacks on shipping in that waterway sparked the recent series of attacks, and the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels of Yemen at the moment are threatening Saudi oil tankers within the Red Sea as well.
Get every day National news
Get every day Canada news delivered to your inbox so you may never miss the day’s top stories.
That pressure pushed benchmark Brent crude above US$94 a barrel in trading, again straining global energy supplies and raising the fee of gasoline in the US ahead of midterm elections this fall.
Related Videos
Attacks shake Iran and Jordan
Missile alert sirens sounded Wednesday in Jordan’s port city of Aqaba. Jordan’s military said it intercepted 4 missiles within the Iranian attack, while two others fell in “uninhabited areas.” Plumes of smoke could possibly be seen overhead in Aqaba in videos filmed by people within the nearby Israeli city of Eilat. Jordan said it also intercepted 4 Iranian drones.
The U.S. military said earlier Wednesday that it had accomplished an eleventh night of strikes on Iran. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported that explosions rocked Bushehr, East Azerbaijan, Hamadan, Hormozgan, Ilam, Khuzestan and Sistan and Baluchistan provinces. The U.S. said its targets included aircraft hangars and drone storage sites.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard insisted the country’s retaliatory attacks would proceed.
Before the newest strikes, Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni visited Pakistan, a key mediator within the conflict, looking for to revive diplomacy. However it was unclear what recent arrangement is perhaps reached to finish the war, which these days has turn out to be a battle for control over the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaking from the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump gave a dim view on possible talks, saying the U.S. had “little interest in meeting.” He signaled that U.S. forces could soon goal an area of Iran near one among its principal sites for enriching uranium.
At a regional summit within the Philippines, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio denounced Iran’s actions within the strait.
“If we create a precedent within the Middle East where a nation state can determine that they’re going to control a global waterway, charge a toll and should you don’t pay them, blow up your ships, we’ve got created a really dangerous precedent which is able to repeat itself in other parts of the world, including on this region,” he said.
The U.S. in response to Iran’s attacks restarted a blockade of Iranian ports, turning around vessels engaged in trading Iranian oil.
© 2026 The Canadian Press