US to hit Iran hard: Trump

TEHRAN, July 29: President Donald Trump vowed to hit back hard at Iran after it attacked US bases in Jordan on Wednesday, as the Middle East war reignited and once again drew in the Islamic republic's proxies.

The warning came after a short lull in the fighting that had spurred hopes of a return to negotiations appeared to draw to an end, sending oil prices jumping five percent over fears of disruptions to global supplies.

On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia and the United States announced strikes on militant bases in Iraq, while US ally Israel accused Iran-backed Hezbollah of a truce violation.

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 state media later reporting an American attack near the Islamic republic's border with Iraq.

"We'll be hitting them hard. They're going to get a beating," Fox News's correspondent quoted Trump as saying, adding that the US president used swear words to emphasise his point: "We are going to beat the 'effing s' out of them."

A Saudi security analyst and researcher, Hesham Alghannam, told AFP: "Tehran is now using its proxy network to sustain leverage while the diplomatic track absorbs international attention.

"The proxy war is the continuation of the direct war by other means, and it is being run with considerable strategic coherence."

Iranian state television, meanwhile, reported a US strike in its territory.

"A few minutes ago, an area in the Piranshahr border area was attacked by American enemy airstrikes," it said, after the Fars news agency quoted an official in West Azerbaijan province as saying a missile hit an uninhabited area, leaving no casualties.

Earlier, Jordan's army said it had intercepted five Iranian missiles, with Iran's Revolutionary Guards saying they had targeted US bases there.�"AFP