American warplanes and Tomahawk cruise missiles struck more than two dozen Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities across western and central Iran in a coordinated overnight operation, U.S. Central Command said Tuesday, in by far the largest American military action against Iranian soil since the war erupted four weeks ago and a direct response to the deadly missile barrage that killed at least nine U.S. service members at Ain al-Asad airbase a day earlier.

The strikes, which began at roughly 1:40 a.m. local time and continued for more than two hours, hit IRGC missile-launch complexes, drone-assembly facilities, command-and-control nodes and a logistics depot in Kermanshah, Hamadan, Isfahan and Yazd provinces, according to a Pentagon battle-damage briefing delivered to reporters shortly after dawn in Washington. CENTCOM said all American aircraft had returned safely to their bases.

President Donald Trump, in a brief televised address from the Oval Office at 10:14 p.m. Eastern time Monday — already past midnight in Iran when the first weapons impacted — said the operation had been authorized “with full deliberation and at the unanimous recommendation” of his national security team. He did not take questions.

“Yesterday morning, the Islamic Republic of Iran murdered nine Americans in their bunks,” Trump said. “Tonight, the United States has delivered a measured but devastating answer. The Iranian regime will understand that aggression against our forces will be met without delay and without apology.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, briefing reporters at the Pentagon at 6 a.m., said the operation had been designated “Operation Iron Reckoning” and involved more than 90 aircraft sorties, including B-2 stealth bombers flown from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri and F-35 and F-22 fighters operating from bases in the Gulf and from the carrier Gerald R. Ford, currently in the Arabian Sea. Cruise missiles were launched from two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and a Virginia-class submarine, he said.

Targets included the IRGC Aerospace Force missile base at Kermanshah, identified by U.S. intelligence as a launch site used in Monday’s Ain al-Asad attack; a Shahed-series drone assembly plant outside Hamadan; an underground Quds Force command bunker near Isfahan; and a logistics hub in Yazd. The Pentagon said it had deliberately avoided targets in Tehran, civilian infrastructure, and Iran’s declared nuclear sites, all of which it said had been “withheld from this tranche of options.”

“This was a proportionate response calibrated to degrade the specific capabilities used to kill American troops,” Hegseth said. “It is not the opening of a new phase. It is the closing of an account.”

Iranian state television, which interrupted regular programming shortly after 2 a.m. local time, broadcast footage of fires burning at an unidentified industrial site and reported that air-defense batteries had engaged “hostile aircraft” over multiple provinces. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in a statement issued from Tehran shortly after dawn, condemned what he called “a flagrant act of war against the sovereign territory of the Islamic Republic” and said Iran reserved “every legitimate right to respond at a time and place of our choosing.” He did not withdraw Iran’s delegation from the Turkey-mediated talks underway in Islamabad, an omission diplomats in three capitals described as deliberate.

Casualty estimates inside Iran remained unclear. Iranian state media reported “a number of martyrs and wounded” without providing figures. Two regional intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, estimated that between 60 and 90 IRGC personnel had been killed, with several senior officers among the dead. The officials cautioned that the assessment was preliminary and based on intercepted communications.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a statement released by his office at 7 a.m. Jerusalem time, called the American operation “a necessary act of deterrence” and said Israel had not participated directly but had provided “intelligence and operational coordination consistent with our shared interests.” Israeli aircraft did not enter Iranian airspace during the overnight window, a senior Israeli defense official told Israel’s Channel 12, in what analysts read as a deliberate choice to allow Washington to act unilaterally.

In Islamabad, the third day of mediated talks opened in an atmosphere of pronounced tension. Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who has co-chaired the sessions alongside Turkish and Saudi counterparts, said in a brief statement that the talks would continue and that “diplomacy must outrun the pace of escalation.” Iranian and U.S. representatives, who have not met directly, were both reported to be remaining in the Pakistani capital.

“What we are seeing is a tit-for-tat sequence that both sides appear to want to terminate at a calibrated rung,” said John Reilly, a senior analyst at Citi covering geopolitical risk. “The Americans hit hard but stayed away from Tehran and the nuclear sites. The Iranians condemned but did not walk. The signaling is unmistakable. Whether it holds depends on whether Tehran believes it has the standing to stand down.”

Markets, which had braced for a far more expansive U.S. response, reacted with measured relief. Brent crude, which had pushed above $128 a barrel after Monday’s Ain al-Asad attack, eased back to roughly $122 in early European trading. S&P 500 futures recovered most of Monday’s losses, rising 1.6 percent ahead of the Wall Street open. Gold slipped from its record above $2,650 to $2,612 an ounce.

On Capitol Hill, congressional reaction broke along familiar lines. Senate Majority Leader John Thune called the strikes “a justified and proportionate response to an act of war.” Representative Marcus DeLuca of California, lead sponsor of the war powers resolution filed Monday, said the overnight escalation “makes the case for congressional consultation more urgent, not less.” Senator Bernard Sanders said the strikes “must not become the prelude to the wider war the American people have repeatedly said they do not want.”

At the United Nations, where the Security Council convened in closed consultations Tuesday morning at the request of Russia and China, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on “all parties to exercise the utmost restraint and to give the Islamabad process the chance it urgently needs.”

CENTCOM said additional force-protection measures at U.S. installations across the region had been ordered, including the redeployment of two more Patriot batteries from the continental United States and a temporary suspension of nonessential personnel movements at Gulf bases. Pentagon officials said further details on operational posture would be announced in the coming days.