US and Iran trade strikes for first time in weeks | BBC News — Transcript

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1. 0:00Iran's Revolutionary Guard says it has
2. 0:02attacked US military targets in Jordan
3. 0:05with ballistic missiles.
4. 0:10Iranian state media reported the IRGC
5. 0:13targeted infrastructure, maintenance
6. 0:15facilities, and fighter jet positions at
7. 0:18the US operated King Hussein and Al
8. 0:20Azraq airbases. Jordan's army said it
9. 0:23had intercepted eight Iranian missiles.
10. 0:27Well, earlier US forces carried out air
11. 0:29strikes on Iran for the first time in a
12. 0:31month. A US official said the targets
13. 0:34were rocket launchers on an island in
14. 0:36the Strait of Hormuz. Iran said the
15. 0:39attack on Larak Island killed and
16. 0:41wounded several people and vowed
17. 0:43response and punishment.
18. 0:46Larak Island is just offshore from the
19. 0:48key port of Bandar Abbas and sits right
20. 0:50on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital
21. 0:52waterway for global shipping. Iran is
22. 0:55currently making tanker traffic pass by
23. 0:57this island for checking and reportedly
24. 1:00forcing vessels to pay $2 million to
25. 1:03cross. Oil prices jumped by more than 2%
26. 1:07in the aftermath of the attack.
27. 1:09Well, let's speak to our Middle East
28. 1:11correspondent, Hugo Bachega. And Hugo,
29. 1:13just uh bring us up to date with the
30. 1:15latest on what we're hearing.
31. 1:20>> Yes, so this is another reminder that
32. 1:21this war hasn't ended. There hasn't been
33. 1:23a deal between the US and Iran, so there
34. 1:26is the constant risk of flare-ups, uh
35. 1:29misunderstandings, and also escalation.
36. 1:32And this latest escalation, as you say,
37. 1:34happened after the US military said it
38. 1:36had attacked uh two Iranian launchers on
39. 1:39this small island in the Strait of
40. 1:41Hormuz. Uh they say that uh the Iranians
41. 1:44were preparing to launch uh missiles
42. 1:47with uh sea mines into the Strait. So,
43. 1:50this was the first US attack on Iran in
44. 1:53a month. And uh there have been reports
45. 1:55in Iran saying that two people were
46. 1:57killed as a result of these American
47. 1:59strikes. Then there was the Iranian
48. 2:01retaliation. Reports in Iran saying that
49. 2:04Iran fired
50. 2:06missiles at
51. 2:08military bases operated by the US in
52. 2:10Jordan. The US has a significant
53. 2:12military presence in Jordan, but the
54. 2:14Jordanian military said they had
55. 2:16intercepted eight ballistic missiles
56. 2:18that had
57. 2:19violated the country's airspace and we
58. 2:22haven't seen reports of any
59. 2:24damage or
60. 2:26injuries as a result of these attacks.
61. 2:27But again, another reminder of how
62. 2:29intense, how volatile the situation is.
63. 2:32And there has been reaction from the
64. 2:34Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian. He
65. 2:36said Iran was not seeking war but would
66. 2:39respond decisively to any aggression. It
67. 2:42does seem that this was a limited
68. 2:45American offensive. It doesn't look like
69. 2:47we're going to see a resumption of
70. 2:49American strikes. But again, there
71. 2:50hasn't been a deal and the war
72. 2:52continues.
73. 2:53>> And Hugo, strategically, how key is
74. 2:57Larak Island in all of this?
75. 3:01>> Yeah, I think this is another reminder
76. 3:03of of the standoff over the Strait of
77. 3:06Hormuz, which is this key economic
78. 3:09waterway. And this has been one of the
79. 3:11main obstacles in these
80. 3:13negotiations that were happening for a
81. 3:15deal to end the war between the
82. 3:17Americans and the Iranians. We know that
83. 3:19regional mediators have been trying to
84. 3:20revive these negotiations.
85. 3:23The Iranians continue to say that
86. 3:26they have control
87. 3:29over those shipping lanes in the Strait
88. 3:31of Hormuz. This has been a key point of
89. 3:35disagreement between the Americans and
90. 3:38the Iranians. So again, this is again a
91. 3:42huge standoff as a result of the war
92. 3:45between the Americans and the Iranians
93. 3:48and there hasn't been a deal to end the
94. 3:50war.
95. 3:51>> Hugo Beshega for the moment, thank you.
96. 3:53That's Hugo Bachega, our Middle East
97. 3:55correspondent there.