The US military launched a series of strikes against Iran on Wednesday, hitting dozens of targets including military command centers, missile facilities, and maritime capabilities. According to Iranian state media, at least three people, including a two-year-old child, were killed in the attacks on Qeshm island. The strikes come after Tuesday's attempted ballistic missile attack by Iran on US forces based in Jordan and the Strait of Hormuz. The US military said it had intercepted all of Iran's missiles during the attack.
Written by the local model on 2026-08-21,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Why this leaning score
The article's framing emphasizes the 'heavy' and 'powerful response' of the US strikes, while describing Iranian actions as an 'attempted attack' on American forces, suggesting a strong pro-US bias in the selection and presentation of information.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph
rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score +0.70 for article 34 · logged 2026-07-30
- Published
The US military says it has completed a "heavy wave" of strikes against Iran in retaliation for Tuesday's attempted ballistic missile attacks on American forces.
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it → publish → forces
Centcom said it hit "dozens" of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets in response to Iran's firing on US bases in Jordan and at ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
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it → say → Hormuz
Iranian state media said the latest strikes had killed three people, including a two-year-old child, on Qeshm island, while other locations were also hit in the south and west of the country.
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locations → say → country
The latest hostilities come on a week that has seen the conflict expand, with the first publicly announced joint US-Saudi strikes targeting Iranian proxies in Iraq.
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conflict → come → Iraq
When the US and Israel launched military strikes on Iran in February, President Donald Trump said the war would last only a few weeks, but it has gone on for five months with no end in sight.
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it → launch → sight
On Wednesday, news outlet Axios cited an unnamed US official as saying that Trump had met Saudi defence minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, who had conveyed that Saudi Arabia wants to de-escalate tensions.
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Arabia → cite → tensions
The BBC has contacted the White House for comment.
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BBC → contact → comment
Meanwhile, the Egyptian government said a fire at a port on Wednesday had been caused by a drone attack.
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fire → say → attack
Egypt, a US ally, has not previously been directly attacked during the war.
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Egypt → attack → war
The US-Iran conflict has reignited after several days of relative calm.
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conflict → reignite → calm
For days, both sides halted strikes as talks apparently restarted in hopes of some type of diplomatic solution.
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talks → halt → solution
Trump called them "very friendly negotiations", though Tehran denied any discussions were happening.
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discussions → call → them
But following the Iranian missile attack on a US base in Jordan on Tuesday, Trump vowed to retaliate, telling reporters at the White House: "We're going to be hitting them very hard because it's our turn to hit them.
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it → follow → them
They know it's coming.
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it → know → ?
They asked us not to do it."
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They → ask → it
The latest wave of US strikes started at 20:00 ET on Wednesday (01:00 BST on Thursday) and lasted about an hour, with Centcom calling them a "powerful response to yesterday's attempted Iranian attacks on US forces based in the Middle East".
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Centcom → start → East
All of Iran's missiles were intercepted, Centcom said.
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Centcom → intercept → missiles
The attack by the US targeted "military command centers, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defense sites, and maritime capabilities," Centcom wrote once the strikes were complete.
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strikes → target → centers
Iranian state media agency Irib reported that the islands of Qeshm and Abadan, both central to the oil industry, were among the areas hit.
"
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islands → report → areas
A US attack on a residential home in the Chah Tangu neighbourhood of Qeshm killed three members of a family: the father, the mother, and their 2-year-old child," Fars reported citing the Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences.
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Fars → kill → Sciences
Meanwhile, Jordan's armed forces said that air defence systems had successfully shot down five Iranian missiles targeting the Kingdom's territory on Thursday.
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systems → say → Thursday
On Tuesday, the IRGC said it had targeted a US air base and a command centre in Jordan "in response to the acts of aggression of the American child-killing army".
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it → say → army
It also said naval forces had struck three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz after they "ignored warnings" and sailed along what it described as an "unsafe and illegal route" through the vital Gulf waterway.
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it → say → waterway
Last Friday, Trump suspended an intensive bombing campaign that had lasted for 13 consecutive nights.
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that → suspend → nights
The US said it had targeted Iranian weapons and military sites.
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it → say → weapons
Scores of people were reported to have died.
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Scores → report → people
On Tuesday, Centcom said the joint US-Saudi strikes hit "multiple terrorist logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq in a strong response to over 30 IRGC-directed aerial drone attacks in the last 72 hours".
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strikes → say → hours
Iraq's paramilitary Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), which is dominated by Iran-backed Shia militias, said at least 20 of its members had been killed in US-Saudi strikes on its bases.
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20 → dominate → bases
The Iraqi presidency said it denounced the bombing of the PMF bases, calling it "an unacceptable attack and a blatant violation of Iraq's sovereignty".
But Trump told Fox News the strikes had been "co-ordinated with the Iraqi government".
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strikes → say → government
Saudi Arabia, which sees itself as the leading Sunni Muslim power, and Iran, the largest Shia Muslim country, have been locked in a struggle for regional dominance for decades.
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which → see → decades
