Iran launched fresh missile and drone attacks on US allies across the Gulf on Wednesday, defying warnings from President Donald Trump against escalating the seven-month conflict. Bahrain's air defences intercepted incoming Iranian fire aimed at its territory, home to a major US naval base, while Iran also struck at Jordan, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. The renewed violence risks reigniting a war that has already driven up oil prices, disrupted the global economy and created political difficulties for Trump's Republican party ahead of November's midterm elections.

The escalation followed a US strike on Iranian rocket launchers in the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran answered with intercepted missile strikes on American bases in Jordan. Brent crude has risen above $95 a barrel, up more than 30% since the war began, while a separate US strike on a wedding in southern Iran reportedly killed at least five people, including a child, and injured 68 others, prompting fierce condemnation from Iranian negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. Iran's military said it had targeted US bases and radar installations in the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Iraq's Kurdistan region, while its Revolutionary Guards reported four of their personnel killed in a US strike on Kermanshah province. The Strait of Hormuz, once carrying a fifth of the world's traded oil, remains largely blocked despite US claims it is open, with only a handful of vessels passing daily.