US strikes expand to northern Iran as Tehran fires on Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan – Middle East crisis live

The United States has widened its air campaign against Iran, striking Tehran for the first time in this round of fighting, The Guardian reports. Iran says explosions hit several cities including the capital, while Iranian forces fired on Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan. On Thursday morning, the US military said it disabled an unladen oil tanker in the strait of Hormuz, firing Hellfire missiles into the ship's smokestack after it ignored repeated warnings, part of what Washington describes as a blockade on Iranian ports. It was the fifth straight day of strikes in a rapidly escalating confrontation.

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