US military says Iran fired ballistic missiles at American bases in Middle East

US Central Command, which oversees American military operations against Iran, said Tuesday that Iranian forces fired ballistic missiles at US bases in the Middle East.

CENTCOM said on X (formerly Twitter) that at 5:45 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps units launched multiple ballistic missiles from Iran in a surprise attack targeting US military bases in the Middle East. It added that all Iranian missiles were successfully intercepted, that US forces remain on alert and that they are maintaining a high state of readiness.

CENTCOM did not specify which country's US base was targeted. However, Barak Ravid, a reporter for the US online outlet Axios, cited an American official in a social media post as saying the target was a base in Jordan.

The attack threatened to unravel a five-day lull in hostilities that had raised hopes for a diplomatic resolution.

The US military had carried out airstrikes against Iran for 13 consecutive days before halting them on July 24, after which Iran had also stopped retaliatory strikes on US bases in the region. With the fighting paused, President Donald Trump said negotiations with Iran were underway and expressed optimism about reaching a deal, while also warning that he would launch far more powerful strikes against Iran if talks collapsed.

The reason Iran targeted US military bases in the attack has not been made clear.

In a separate post on X, however, CENTCOM said that alongside Saudi Arabian forces on Tuesday, it conducted precision strikes in Iraq against Iran-linked terrorists who had been directed by the IRGC to attack US and Saudi energy infrastructure. It said US and Saudi fighter jets struck multiple terrorist logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq as a strong response to more than 30 IRGC-directed drone strikes over the previous 72 hours.

The precise sequence of events — whether Iran's ballistic missile launch preceded or followed the US and Saudi strikes on Iran-backed militias in Iraq — could not be immediately confirmed. Based on available information, however, Iran's new ballistic missile attack may have been retaliation for the strikes that US and Saudi forces said they carried out against Iranian proxy forces.

CENTCOM warned that Iran-linked terrorist militias in Iraq had attempted more than 600 attacks on American citizens and facilities between February and April this year, and that the IRGC and its terrorist proxies must halt such attacks to avoid further US military action.