U.S. officials confirmed that the U.S. has begun retaliatory strikes in the Middle East in response to that deadly attack that killed three American service members on Sunday in Jordan near the Syrian and Iraq border.

U.S. Central Command, the division of the U.S. military

that's responsible for the Middle East,

says tonight that at 4 PM Eastern time,

which is midnight local time,

U.S. forces conducted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against Iran's Islamic Revolutionary

Guard Corps and affiliated militia groups.

Central Command tells us that U.S. B-1 bombers, like the ones you see right here, struck more than 85

targets with more than 125 precise munitions. Central Command also tells us

that the target struck include command and control centers,

intelligence centers, storage centers for rockets, missiles and drones,

and supply chain facilities for militia groups and their Revolutionary Guard core sponsors.

Earlier tonight, NBC News was briefed on these strikes by President Biden's National Security Council.

Here's what they told us.

We don't want to see a single war attack or strike on U.S. personnel or facilities in the region.

We don't want to see a single one.

The response actions that we took tonight, which are only the first of more to come, are meant to degrade and disrupt the capabilities of these groups to conduct these attacks.

I'm not going to, nor would I ever preview or get ahead of any future potential

on your side one way to the other but as I said these responses began tonight but they're not going to end tonight.

This is by far the largest military action from the Biden administration in response to the ongoing

attacks on both US forces and commercial trade vessels from Iranian-backed

forces. It is also the largest show of direct American military force in the Middle East since the war in

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