print-icon
print-icon
Add ZeroHedge as a preferred source on Google

IRGC Strikes Jordan Again After 2-Hour US Bombardment Kills Iranian Troops, Civilians - Hormuz Traffic Creeps Higher

Tyler Durden's Photo
by Tyler Durden
Authored...

In the wake of the overnight fresh round of US airstrikes on Iran, which resulted in destruction and casualties especially along coastal areas, Iran's military has retaliated once again especially on Jordan.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that it completed a "heavy" wave of strikes on the Islamic Republic, in response to "attempted missile attacks" on American bases in the region earlier this week. This US wave lasted two hours, the Pentagon said, striking "military command centers, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defense sites, and maritime capabilities". 

via Iran state media

It accused Iran of a "surprise attack" the prior night, Tuesday, but said that "all Iranian missiles were successfully intercepted."

As a result of the US bombing, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRTC) said three of its troops were killed in a missile attack, according to semi-official Tasnim. The three IRGC members died while "defending Iran’s borders and people" in what it described as a "brutal attack by the criminal terrorist regime of the United States."

Iranian officials are also saying that US bombardment of Qeshm island has killed a family. In Qeshm island, the Director General of Crisis Management of the Hormozgan Governorate said search and rescue efforts are underway amid mounting casualties there.

"So far, two children have been pulled out from under the rubble and transferred to medical centers, and efforts are ongoing to rescue three other members of this family," Mehrdad Hassanzadeh said. 

In response Iran says it has again targeted a US airbase in Jordan, and claims to have taken out three F-35 stealth fighters, though there's been no indication of this from the Pentagon side. According to details via Al Jazeera:

In a statement directed to Jordan, the IRGC says in response to a US attack on Qeshm island that killed two parents and their child, aerospace fighters targeted a ramp and maintenance shed at the al-Azraq airbase, which hosts US F-35 fighter jets, with several ballistic missiles, state news agency Fars reports.

The IRGC said that it had completely destroyed three F-35 aircraft and caused “heavy damage” to three others.

The IRGC stated that "A number of enemy officers and technical and maintenance personnel were also killed in this attack. Our region is no place for the infanticidal army that cruelly slaughters innocent families in the middle of the night while they sleep."

They added that the war will continue until "the last American occupier is expelled from the Islamic lands" and that Muslims in Jordan and the region want this too.

Aftermath of US attack on a residential area of Iran's Qeshm Island:

Despite the new fighting, shipping data surprisingly suggests an uptick in transit in the Strait of Hormuz. "Shipping across the crucial Strait of Hormuz has picked up in recent days despite a continuation of hostilities in the Middle East, with the US claiming its navy escorted some tankers across the waterway," Bloomberg writes.

But this still constitutes a tiny trickle compared to pre-war normal times:

The Al Areesh openly exited the Persian Gulf early Thursday carrying a liquefied natural gas cargo from Qatar, the country's first shipment in three weeks, while the liquefied petroleum gas carrier CYH Yongchun appeared to transit the strait with its transponder off, according to ship-tracking data.

Fourteen commodity vessels crossed Hormuz in both directions on Wednesday, data from market intelligence firm Kpler shows, up from single digits last week. The figures may still be revised with new information. A crude supertanker has also been provisionally booked at nearly $500,000 per day to collect a cargo at an unnamed Persian Gulf port next week for delivery to China.

Simultaneously the Bab El Mandeb strait is getting choked off to Saudi shipping and is being squeezed by Yemen's Houthis. Per a Bloomberg note, the British marine insurance market has widened the area in the Red Sea it deems as high risk in the wake of new Houthi targeting of foreign vessels.

Iran may be responsibility for Wednesday's unprecedented alleged (and still subject to contradictory reporting) drone attack on a tanker docked at Egyptian port:

However...

The Lloyd's Market Association expanded the areas where underwriters can charge war risk premiums after a meeting earlier this week. Per Bloomberg:

Listed area in the Red Sea increased to 25.5 degrees north, but doesn’t include Egyptian territorial waters. That would, however, include Saudi Arabia’s port of Yanbu, which has been a vital lifeline for the kingdom’s oil exports

“The decision today to amend those Listed Areas reflects the recent escalation by the Houthis and their attacks on Saudi vessels in the Red Sea,” said Neil Roberts, Head of Marine and Aviation at the Lloyd’s Market Association

President Trump is said to be 'exasperated' by the situation and frustrated at his advisors' inability to agree on war strategy, meanwhile.

NBC on Thursday cites that "The president is exasperated" citing a Trump ally. "I don’t think he believed it was going to be this difficult to get the Iranians to agree to a deal.” The source added "there was not a real strategy for how long or what they should do to get to the endpoint."

As a reminder, University of Chicago political scientist and foreign policy realist author Robert Pape that the war will stumble along and likely expand even through the midterms: "The victory rhetoric [from Trump] doesn't match escalation reality," he said. "It is out of sync." Then he emphasized: "I think it will actually be after the midterms," he said. "Between now and January, this is not going to be over."

0