DUBAI/WASHINGTON - Fears of renewed escalation gripped the Middle East on Sept 2 after the United States and Iran exchanged their biggest barrage since July, with Washington striking Iran’s southern coast and Tehran firing at US bases across the region.

With the US threatening further strikes, Iran accused Washington of hitting a wedding party, killing four people and wounding dozens. Its health minister later said 18 people in total had been killed and 108 injured in the latest wave of US strikes.

The US military said it struck air defences, radar systems, maritime assets, mine-laying capabilities and communications sites on Sept 1. Iran reported hits on multiple targets near the Strait of Hormuz.

The flare-up threatens to deepen a conflict that has dragged on since the US launched strikes on Iran in February, disrupting global energy supplies and drawing opposition from a majority of Americans ahead of November’s congressional elections.

“Last night was like the end of the world,” Mahmoud, 38, a municipal worker in Sirik County along the strait, told Reuters by telephone, describing attacks on the area that includes the city where the wedding was reported to have been hit.

President Donald Trump said the US hit Iran “very hard” and that Iran only responded with a “love tap.”

“It was a very heavy attack last night, and we’re prepared to do another one any time we want,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

Iran struck what it said were US assets in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Iraq, and said its aim was n...