US pounds Iran; Jordan shoots down 5 Iranian missiles
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- Jordan's air defenses shot down five Iranian missiles Thursday morning with no casualties, per the state-run Petra news agency, hours after the U.S. completed 'a heavy wave of strikes' that hit dozens of IRGC sites — command centers, missile and drone facilities, and coastal surveillance points.
- U.S. Central Command announced it struck 'dozens' of Revolutionary Guard Corps targets over two-plus hours, including command centers and missile sites, after Iran targeted a base in Jordan hosting American troops and President Trump vowed to hit Iran 'very hard.'
- Iran's IRNA state news agency reported three people killed and two wounded in a U.S. strike on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway Iranian attacks have again effectively closed.
- Ambrey, a British maritime security firm, said drone strikes ignited fires on two natural gas vessels at Egypt's Damietta port — a U.S.-owned floating storage facility and a Greek-owned tanker; Egypt's Petroleum Ministry confirmed the fires but did not attribute a cause.
- Saudi Arabia accused Iraqi militias of firing drones at its oil facilities and joined U.S. strikes on those militias, killing at least 20 fighters and six Iranian advisers Wednesday; Planet Labs satellite imagery analyzed by the AP showed damage to Aramco's Abqaiq facility, which can process approximately 7 million barrels of crude per day.
- Houthi rebels in Yemen declared a blockade of Saudi shipping and launched drones at facilities serving the Red Sea port of Yanbu, threatening the Bab el-Mandeb strait as a bypass for Saudi exports blocked by Iran's hold on the Strait of Hormuz.
- Mediators had expressed optimism about returning the U.S. and Iran to the table before an interim agreement collapsed over renewed Strait of Hormuz fighting; a regional official said they are 'still trying with both sides' to restore calm.
Why it matters: The war's spread to Egypt and Saudi Arabia — previously spared direct attacks — risks draining already diminished U.S. munitions stockpiles faster. With Saudi Aramco's Abqaiq processing roughly 7 million barrels per day and the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed, an expanded conflict threatens a global energy crisis on top of a five-month war already unpopular among American voters.
