After the downing of an Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. bombed Iran Tuesday evening, and Iran retaliated with strikes against U.S. bases in Jordan and Bahrain as the Iran War entered its 103rd day on Wednesday.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced the strikes on social media, saying that U.S. forces were carrying out “self-defense strikes… in response to yesterday’s downing of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter.” CENTCOM said the strikes began at 5 PM U.S. Eastern Time. Around four hours later, CENTCOM announced the strikes had been completed.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency said the U.S. strikes hit Qeshm Island and southern territory on the mainland, damaging telecommunications and destroying two water reservoirs in the Bamani district of Sirik, an area reported to suffer from severe water shortages. Iran called the strikes a “criminal attack against civilians’ livelihoods.”
Iran said it responded to U.S. attacks by launching a drone attack against the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and firing missiles at U.S. airbases in Jordan.
President Donald Trump told Fox News on Wednesday morning that he was considering further attacks, including on Iranian civilian infrastructure. As the reporter Trey Yingst relayed the conversation, Trump said “he may keep going, and that he is getting closer to the targeting of Iranian power plants and bridges,” adding that he believes Iran is “tapping the U.S. along as it relates toward reaching a negotiated settlement to formally end this conflict.”
“They had a chance to sign a deal and survive,” Trump told Yingst.
In a Truth Social post Wednesday morning, Trump said that “The Bully of the Middle East is DEAD,” adding that Iran has “taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!”
Tensions persist around the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran effectively closed to maritime traffic early in the war. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Centre reported Wednesday that “a tanker has experienced a fire in their engine room… and the vessel is reporting 1 casualty and 2 crew members missing,” in an incident that occurred off the coast of Oman. UKMTO issued a separate warning about an incident that occurred overnight Tuesday off the coast of Yemen, in which “a cargo vessel has reported being approached by one craft with 6 armed persons onboard. There was an exchange of fire between the small craft and the cargo vessel’s Armed Security Team resulting in the small craft turning away.”
Meanwhile, broader tensions in the Middle East show signs of widening. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told lawmakers from his ruling AK Party in parliament Wednesday that “the attacks by [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his network of murder on Lebanon and Syria have brought the issue to a point where it also threatens Turkey.” Netanyahu wrote Wednesday on X that Erdoğan is an “antisemitic dictator” and that the Israeli military “will continue to take forceful action against Iran and its proxies.”
Israeli Minister Miki Zohar had said in May that Israel “must begin to treat Turkey as an enemy state,” and Former Israeli Prime Minister and current candidate Naftali Bennett said in February that “a new Turkish threat is emerging,” adding that Ankara is forming an axis “similar to the Iranian one.” Turkey is a member of NATO.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed at least 17 people on Wednesday, with Lebanon’s Health Ministry reporting that Israeli attacks across Lebanon have killed at least 3,696 people since March 2, 2026. Israeli media reported air sirens in northern Israel on Wednesday due to suspected Hezbollah drones.
Data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Wednesday showed that U.S. inflation rose to 4.2 percent year over year in May, up from 2.4 percent in February before the war in Iran, with higher gas and energy prices driving most of the increase.
The price of Brent Crude oil was $93 per barrel on Wednesday morning while gas prices remained elevated. AAA reported the national average price of regular gas at $4.15.
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