Iran launches ‘surprise’ missile strikes on US forces days after Trump pauses bombing to give diplomacy another chance

IRAN has launched a fresh wave of ballistic missiles at US forces based in Jordan in an “attempted surprise attack”. It marks the first blitz between Washington and Tehran since Donald Trump paused tit-for-tat strikes last week to resume negotiations. All the missiles were intercepted, according to US Central Command (Centcom) on Tuesday. They said: “At 5:45 p.m. ET today, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces launched multiple ballistic missiles from Iran in an attempted surprise attack on US forces based in the Middle East. “All Iranian missiles were successfully intercepted. “US forces remain vigilant and at a high state of readiness.” read more world news Shocking footage showed missile interceptions lighting up the night sky as rockets were seen blowing up over Jordanian neighbourhoods. Regime strikes could shatter the fragile ceasefire implemented by Trump on Friday. The pause in fighting was aimed at letting talks continue to iron out a solid peace deal once and for all. The US president threatened on Monday he would get back to “very strong military action” if negotiations fell through. Most read in The Sun He told Axios he was in “very deep talks” with Iran. Asked how long he was willing to give Tehran to finalise a peace deal, Trump said: “Not much time.” He said: “Either it goes fast or not at all.” Earlier this month in Jordan, two US service members were killed in a missile and drone barrage. The deadly assaults caused Trump to intensify his two week-long blitz of the regime. Trump’s decision to row back on planned strikes was caused by a diminished stockpile of Patriot antimissile interceptors, according to the New York Times. On Friday, the warring nations were said to be keen on returning to an interim ceasefire deal, but Iran‘s control over the Strait of Hormuz remained a sticking point. After being besieged for nearly four months, the Strait was reopened to commercial shipping after a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed on June 17. There was hope that negotiators could hash out a deal, bringing an end to the brutal conflict and stabilising global fuel prices. But that turned out to be a false dawn as Iran’s trigger-happy Islamic Guards began firing on ships in the strait. After two weeks of bombing throughout July, Trump is reportedly reluctant to keep widening the war. An escalation risks alienating key Gulf allies who have been targeted by Iran, as well as a global economic crunch if the strait remains closed.