Iran threatens to ‘punish the aggressor’ after US launches retaliatory strikes

Iran on Thursday threatened to “punish” the United States following a “heavy wave of strikes” against Tehran overnight in retaliation against missile attacks on American forces in the Middle East.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it “will punish the aggressor today,” extending the threat to Gulf nations helping Washington in the conflict, saying such countries would “receive a harsh response,” according to Iranian state media.

The U.S. military late Wednesday unleashed two hours of airstrikes against Iran over the Guard firing five missiles at an American base in Jordan on Tuesday.

U.S. and Saudi Arabia responded to the attack hours later with strikes on Iran-backed militias in Iraq.

U.S. and Iranian forces also traded strikes early Thursday morning in response to the expansion of the conflict into Egypt — where two ships at an Egyptian port near the Suez Canal caught fire after drones believed to be Iranian struck the area.

The fresh round of strikes added to the tinderbox of conflict in the Middle........

© The Hill