Iran Conflict Escalates as US Strikes Follow Threatening Billboard, Arab Nations Seek to Avoid Direct War

The United States announced new air strikes inside Iran on Wednesday, following President Donald Trump's pledge to hit Tehran "very hard" after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired ballistic missiles toward the Muwaffaq Salti air base and another U.S. site in Jordan. The strikes were described by U.S. Central Command as a response to the missile attack, which U.S. forces say was partially intercepted.

In Tehran, a large billboard was erected in Palestine Square showing President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and their children standing above coffins draped with American flags and the slogan "Blood for Blood." The display, also posted in Persian and English, has been interpreted as a Tehran‑backed message of retaliation after earlier U.S.-Israeli strikes.

Separately, Arab states close to the Iran‑Israel confrontation voiced a collective aim to avoid direct engagement. Zeidon Alkinani, founder of the Arab Perspectives Institute, told Al Jazeera that regional Arab countries seek to stay out of a direct war, preferring to prevent a multilateral escalation that could draw them into reciprocal attacks.