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          <lang class="3" style="Headline1" font="Franklin Gothic Book" fontStyle="Regular" size="30">US launches ‘heavy’ strikes on Iran</lang>
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      <p style=".Bodylaser">
        <lang class="3" style=".Bodylaser" font="Minion Pro" fontStyle="Regular" size="9">Dubai: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.</lang>
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        <lang class="3" style=".Bodylaser" font="Minion Pro" fontStyle="Regular" size="9">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.</lang>
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        <lang class="3" style=".Bodylaser" font="Minion Pro" fontStyle="Regular" size="9">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.</lang>
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        <lang class="3" style=".Bodylaser" font="Minion Pro" fontStyle="Regular" size="9">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.</lang>
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        <lang class="3" style=".Bodylaser" font="Minion Pro" fontStyle="Regular" size="9">Iran and the US have engaged in escalating strikes and counter-strikes since a ceasefire in April, aimed at pausing the months-long war, fell apart in June.</lang>
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        <lang class="3" style=".Bodylaser" font="Minion Pro" fontStyle="Regular" size="9">The US has blockaded Iranian ports and bombed Iranian sites, while Iran has fired missiles and drones at US assets in countries across the Middle East and targeted shipping in the economically important Strait of Hormuz, connecting the Gulf and Arabian Sea.</lang>
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        <lang class="3" style=".Bodylaser" font="Minion Pro" fontStyle="Regular" size="9">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. The BBC has contacted the White House for comment.</lang>
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        <lang class="3" style=".Bodylaser" font="Minion Pro" fontStyle="Regular" size="9">Meanwhile, the Egyptian government said a fire at a port on Wednesday had been caused by a drone attack. Egypt, a US ally, has not previously been directly attacked during the war.</lang>
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