US forces launched waves of airstrikes against Iran, one night after Tehran launched a ballistic missile attack on US military positions that were thwarted by air defences, U.S. defence officials said. The strikes began about 10am Thrusday AEST officials with US Central Command, which oversees operations in the region, said in a statement. “The strikes are a powerful response to yesterday’s attempted Iranian attacks on U.S. forces based in the Middle East,” Centcom said. Iranian officials said Tuesday that they had targeted a base in Jordan in response to undefined “aggressive actions by the U.S. To date, 18 American service members have been killed and more than 600 wounded in the conflict.