Tehran, Sep 2: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that it has started strikes against US bases and assets in the region in retaliation for US attacks against southern Iranian provinces earlier in the day, which killed at least five and wounded over 50 others.

In a statement published on its official news outlet Sepah News Tuesday night (local time), the IRGC said its “regret-inducing response against the aggressors” has begun, noting its air defence 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 on Iran’s southern coasts “out of desperation” and in retaliation for the US “criminal” and deadly attack on a wedding ceremony in Hormozgan province, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Jordanian Armed Forces-Arab Army (JAF) said later that the country’s air defence 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 centres, with no casualties or loss of life reported, according to a JAF statement.

The semi-official Fars news agency 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.

Multiple explosions were heard Tuesday evening in several southern Iranian provinces as US Central Command, in a post on social media platform X, announced the start of strikes against IRGC targets.

The explosions were heard in the counties of Sirik, Bandar Abbas, Qeshm and Jask in Hormozgan, Konarak and Chabahar in Sistan and Baluchestan province, Jiroft in Kerman province, and Asaluyeh in Bushehr province, Iranian media reported.

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.

Washington, Sep 2: US forces launched fresh strikes on targets of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Iran, marking a renewed escalation in hostilities between Washington and Tehran.

If Iran “retaliates for this very justified attack, they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level,” US President Donald Trump warned in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday (local time), describing the new strikes near the Strait of Hormuz as “large and powerful.”

“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.

Trump’s remarks came shortly after the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced fresh strikes on IRGC targets in Iran at 12 p.m. Eastern Time (1600 GMT), reports Xinhua news agency.

CENTCOM said the strikes followed recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against US service members deployed in the region.

Explosions were heard Tuesday in the Iranian port cities of Bandar Abbas and Sirik, and on Qeshm Island, reports reaching here said.

Citing sources, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that Iranian military on Tuesday evening launched missiles toward US bases in regional countries.

The IRGC warned Tuesday that the United States “will regret its new attacks,” Iran’s Fars news agency reported.

Two crude oil tankers were struck by unknown projectiles while transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Monday evening, Greece-based maritime risk organisation Marisks said on Tuesday.

Kathmandu, Sep 2: The death toll from the devastating floods in Rasuwa and surrounding districts has crossed the 1,100 mark, according to the latest search, rescue and relief update released by Nepali authorities on Wednesday morning.

As many as 1,114 bodies swept away by last week’s deadly floods had been recovered by 9 a.m. Wednesday, Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) said.

The highest number of bodies had been recovered in southern Chitwan district, with 348, followed by Nawalparasi East with 217, Nawalparasi West with 190, Nuwakot with 155, Gorkha with 66, Dhading with 59, Rasuwa with 41 and Tanahun with 38. The figures include body parts recovered from different locations.

Authorities said 95 bodies have so far been identified and handed over to their relatives.

According to the NDRRMA, 3,916 people remain out of contact, including government employees, security personnel, elected representatives, foreign nationals, Nepalis accompanying foreign tourists, local residents and workers employed at hydropower projects.

However, there is a discrepancy between the figures released by the NDRRMA and Nepal Police.

According to data provided by Nepal Police based on information collected until 8 a.m. Wednesday, 4,858 people, including 583 foreign nationals, remain out of contact.

Meanwhile, the whereabouts of many people reported missing from 11 flood-affected hydropower projects remain unknown, as rescue efforts have so far produced limited results.

According to the Independent Power Producers’ Association, Nepal (IPPAN), the status of 983 people associated with 11 hydropower projects along the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river corridors in Rasuwa and Nuwakot remains unknown.

Nepali Army personnel, along with Indian and Chinese tunnel rescue teams, have been making efforts to reach deep inside tunnels at several hydropower projects to determine whether those reported missing can be located.

The private sector’s representative body for power developers said Tuesday evening that rescue efforts were continuing at projects including the Upper Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project (60 MW), Chilime Hydropower Project (22 MW), Langtang Khola Hydropower Project (20 MW), Trishuli 3B Hydropower Project (37 MW) and Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project (216 MW).

At the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project, 1,433 people were working when the floods struck, according to IPPAN.

Of them, 876 have either been rescued or have made contact.

Those still unaccounted for include 15 employees of the project company, 78 employees of EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contractor Doosan, 94 employees of Andritz Hydro, seven employees of consultant — the Joint Venture of Lahmeyer International GmbH and Jade Consult Pvt. Ltd, and 385 workers employed by civil subcontractor PowerChina, according to IPPAN.

The whereabouts of 91 people reported missing from the Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Project (111 MW) remained unknown as of Tuesday.

A Nepali Army-led team conducted an on-site inspection on Monday and returned after reporting that it had found no one inside the powerhouse tunnel.