The top photos of the week by AP photojournalists

The U.S. military says it has completed what it describes as “a heavy wave of strikes against Iran” conducted in response to an earlier Iranian missile attack on a U.S. base in Jordan. U.S. Central Command said in a social media post early Thursday that over the span of two hours they struck “dozens” of targets belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, including military command centers as well as missile and drone facilities, and coastal surveillance and defense sites. The latest barrage came after the U.S. partnered with Saudi Arabia to strike Iran-backed militias in neighboring Iraq, killing at least 20 fighters and six Iranian advisers.

President Donald Trump says he may pull Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general until Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis leave office. The Republicans have demanded written assurances about the settlement of the president’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. Back-and-forth missile strikes between the U.S. and Iran Thursday are dimming hopes for a deal to end the war as more countries are drawn in. Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iraq have reported strikes. And a new AP-NORC poll shows Trump's approval rating has dropped, with most Americans saying the Iran war isn't worth fighting.

The United States and Iran have each fired barrages of missiles as the pattern of back-and-forth strikes takes hold again and hope dims for a quick end to the five-month conflict. Following a few days of respite, fears of a wider war have grown, with renewed fighting threatening to engulf even more countries. Jordan said Thursday it intercepted Iranian missiles for the second consecutive day, while Kuwait said a strike in the northern part of the country killed one person. Also this week, drones caused fires on ships at an Egyptian port, and Saudi Arabia said it came under fire from Iran-backed militias in Iraq.