TEHRAN: The United States military launched "powerful" strikes on Iran on Thursday, in retaliation for Tehran's attacks targeting US bases in Jordan as the Middle East war reignited and again drew in the Islamic republic's proxies. "The strikes are a powerful response to yesterday's attempted Iranian attacks on US forces based in the Middle East", US Central Command said. For two days, the world's biggest oil exporter Saudi Arabia has reported drone attacks targeting crude facilities that it blamed on Iraqi armed groups allied with Tehran. Iran meanwhile launched missiles at US ally Jordan, with Iranian state media later reporting an American attack near the Islamic republic's border with Iraq. In Iraq, a joint US-Saudi air operation followed attacks by what Riyadh called "terrorist militias loyal to Iran" on its oil facilities.