DUBAI/WASHINGTON (REUTERS)

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday Iran had taken too ​long to negotiate a deal and would now "have to pay the price", while Tehran said it would reassess diplomatic engagement with Washington after overnight tit-for-tat strikes.

Iran launched missile and drone attacks on US bases in Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain in what it called retaliation for American strikes on Iranian targets around the Strait of Hormuz. The exchange of fire, which came after Trump said Iran had downed a US Apache helicopter near the strait, marks ⁠one of the most significant escalations since Washington and Tehran agreed to a ceasefire in April.

"They've ​taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!" Trump said in a social media post on Wednesday.

Oil prices rose and stock markets fell after his remarks. The US ⁠military said it ​had targeted Iranian air defences, ground control stations and surveillance radar sites in what it described as a "proportional response" to the downing of the helicopter, whose two crew members were rescued by a drone boat.

The escalation - just days after Iran exchanged strikes with Israel for the first time since the ceasefire - ‌casts fresh doubt on prospects for a deal to end the war, which began on February 28 with joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

The US strikes overnight lasted about four hours, and a US official said nearly 20 Iranian targets were hit.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Qeshm Island and the port of Sirik were attacked. Iranian media also reported explosions in Bandar Abbas, another port city, and later near Jask at the entrance to the Strait of ‌Hormuz.

Jordan's military said it had intercepted five missiles launched toward al-Azraq, and that falling ‌debris ⁠caused no injuries or damage.

Kuwait's defence ministry said it ‌had intercepted "hostile aerial targets", while Bahrain's air defences repelled Iranian attacks, a media adviser to the king said ‌on X. 

The ceasefire in early April was announced alongside plans for peace talks.

Diplomats have since sought to reopen Hormuz, end a US blockade of ⁠Iranian ports, and create a pathway for negotiations over Iran's nuclear programme.

Trump has repeatedly said a deal is close. He has said Iran must end its restrictions on shipping through Hormuz, which before the war carried a fifth of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas. He also says any peace deal must ensure Iran cannot develop a nuclear weapon.