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 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 p.m. 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 US B1 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 targets 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 Corps 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 rate to the other.

But as I said, these responses began tonight,

but they're not gonna end tonight.

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