Multiple explosions were heard on Tuesday evening across Iran's southern Hormozgan and southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan provinces, as US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced the start of strikes against targets belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Blasts were heard in the counties of Sirik, Bandar Abbas and Qeshm in Hormozgan, as well as Konarak and Chabahar in Sistan and Baluchestan, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported.

The exact locations and origins of the blasts remain unknown, it added.

Fars cited Ahmad Nafisi, Hormozgan's deputy governor for political and security affairs, as saying that at least five people, including a four-year-old child and a woman, were killed and over 50 others wounded in the US attack targeting the wedding ceremony in Sirik county.

The semi-official Tasnim News Agency, citing local sources, reported six blasts in Konarak and eight south of Qeshm Island, with unofficial accounts suggesting an explosion from the island's airport.

Meanwhile, Ali Khalilabadi, Sistan and Baluchestan's deputy governor for security and law enforcement affairs, said four projectiles hit Chabahar and Konarak, the semi-official Mehr News Agency reported.

In a Tuesday post on social media platform X, CENTCOM said US forces have begun striking IRGC targets. "The strikes follow recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members deployed to the region."

Tasnim also cited sources claiming that Iran had launched missiles toward US bases in regional countries, though the report has not been officially confirmed yet.

Iran's main military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said in a statement that in response to the US "air aggression," the Iranian armed forces will deal "crushing and shattering" blows to the United States.

The latest strikes have further escalated tensions in and around the Strait of Hormuz, with Washington and Tehran trading accusations and threats of further military action.

IRGC claims beginning retaliation for US strikes

The IRGC said on Tuesday night it has started strikes against US bases and assets in the region in retaliation for US attacks. 

In a statement published on its official news outlet Sepah News, the IRGC said its "regret-inducing response against the aggressors" have begun, noting its air defense had shot down a "hostile" US MQ-9 Reaper drone.

Its aerospace forces also launched ballistic missile and drone strikes on Camp Titin in Jordan and Shaikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain, reportedly killing "a large number" of US troops and destroying several key facilities and combat helicopters.

It stressed that the US strikes will only protract the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and make the Iranian armed forces more determined to "suppress the foreign forces interfering in the waterway."

The IRGC said the attacks began after the United States bombed a number of civilian places in Iran's southern coasts "out of desperation" and in retaliation for the US "criminal" and deadly attack on a wedding ceremony in Hormozgan province.

The Jordanian Armed Forces-Arab Army (JAF) said later that the country's air defense systems on Tuesday evening intercepted and destroyed 10 of 13 ballistic missiles that entered the country's airspace from Iran in the past hours.

Three other missiles fell in remote areas away from population centers, with no casualties or loss of life reported, according to a JAF statement.

Trump warns of 'much harder' action

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday commented on the US military strikes on Iran as "large and powerful" in a Truth Social post, and warned that Iran would courtface even greater strikes if it retaliated.

If Iran "retaliates for this very justified attack, they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level," Trump warned in a post on Truth Social.

"But it will not be the biggest attack of them all, that is waiting in the wings and, when it is over, there will be very little left of the Islamic Republic of Iran!" Trump threatened in the post.

In a phone interview with Fox News, he claimed US forces destroyed "a lot of radar" in Iran's network, including systems Tehran attempted to rebuild. "This is a very big hit today. If it goes a third time, they're going to be totally wiped out as a country," Trump said.

"The (USS) George Washington is loaded to the gills," he added. "We're loaded up."

Trump said Gulf allies were notified ahead of the latest strikes, according to a Fox News report.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei on Tuesday rejected as a "lie" the US claim that its recent attack on Iran's Larak Island was carried out because Iranian forces were preparing to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

Addressing a weekly press conference, Baghaei pointed to frequent US claims about Iran's intention to develop nuclear weapons, saying that Washington's pattern was to fabricate a "lie every time to justify its crime."

Qatar says mediation efforts intensifying

Qatar said on Tuesday that diplomatic efforts with its regional partners are intensifying to reach a swift solution to the Strait of Hormuz crisis, warning that leaving the issue unresolved would lead to further escalation.

Speaking at the foreign ministry's weekly media briefing, ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said discussions remained underway with Qatar's mediation partners, including Oman and Pakistan, following a series of diplomatic visits and consultations in recent days.

Al Ansari said that there was no "tangible result" yet to announce but that further outcomes of the discussions and visits would be disclosed in the coming days, adding that diplomatic efforts over the past several days had centered on resolving the situation in the Strait of Hormuz.

He said that Qatar was working with its partners to ensure that the crisis ends through "a diplomatic resolution that guarantees that the strait is open."

Such a solution should allow products from the region to reach global markets, guarantee regional security and address the aspirations of the region's peoples for prosperity and security, Al Ansari added.

Iran condemns EU support for US economic operation 

Esmaeil Baghaei on Monday condemned the EU's support for a US economic operation against Iran, saying that Europe could no longer claim "strategic autonomy."

Baghaei made the remarks in a post on the social media platform X in response to an EU statement issued on Monday at the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Asheville, the United States.

The EU said it "welcomes efforts (aimed) at ensuring that Iran ceases its destabilizing activities and engages in peace negotiations with good faith, also through additional economic pressure, including through the US-led Operation Economic Outcast."

"Europe can no longer speak of 'strategic autonomy' while merely executing Washington's orders," Baghaei said.

The EU called for continued diplomacy with Iran to ensure regional stability and freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, adding that it remained ready to take further measures and maintain pressure on Tehran together with the United States and other partners.

On August 19, Trump announced what he called "the most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country," warning that countries providing a lifeline to Iran would face "tremendous economic consequences."

(With input from Xinhua)