Dubai: The United States said on Sunday it carried out new strikes on Iran, saying the action was meant to punish the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after an attack in Jordan that killed two American service members, left one missing, and sent four others to hospital, AP reported.
The US Central Command said the operation also aimed to reduce Iran’s ability to obstruct oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for global energy shipments.
Iranian officials said an area near Sirik, close to the Strait of Hormuz, was hit around 1:30 a.m. local time. The latest round of attacks followed Washington’s confirmation of its first troop deaths from direct Iranian fire since the war began, after a drone-and-missile strike on a base in Jordan on Friday.
The US military did not identify the dead or give additional details, but said 16 U.S. service members have now been killed and more than 430 wounded since the conflict started.
Mojtaba Khamenei Warns Of Consequences
Shortly before the US announced the troop deaths, Iran’s supreme leader warned of “unforgettable lessons” if American attacks continued. The message, read on state television and attributed to Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen publicly since the war began, also described President Donald Trump’s signature as “worthless and invalid.”
An Iranian negotiator later said Tehran was suspending its commitments under an interim deal that had been intended to end the fighting.
That statement removed another fragile layer from an already unstable diplomatic effort. Khamenei also spoke of retaliation not only from Iran but from its regional allies, referring to them as the “Axis of Resistance.”
The United States responded by issuing a global travel alert as tensions rose further. The fighting is now centred heavily on the Strait of Hormuz, while civilian infrastructure, including desalination plants, is increasingly caught in the crossfire.
Wider Regional Strain
The previous confirmed US military death had involved a helicopter pilot who crashed in the Arabian Sea earlier this month. Earlier in the war, an Iranian drone attack on a command centre in Kuwait killed six soldiers, one soldier died in an attack on a base in Saudi Arabia, and six others were killed when a refueling aircraft crashed in Iraq.
In Kuwait, the most serious damage on Saturday was reported at a water desalination plant and an oil facility. Authorities said the strikes injured several people at the oil site and caused a fire at the desalination plant, forcing several power generation units offline. It marked the second assault on a desalination facility in just two days in the small desert nation, which gets 90% of its drinking water from desalination.
Firefighters and a worker were also hurt while putting out two other fires caused by Iranian strikes. Kuwait briefly closed its airspace because of missile threats, and its national airline began rescheduling most flights to and from the capital. Elsewhere, Iraq said it downed attack drones over Irbil, while Jordan said its air defenses intercepted Iranian missiles, and warning sirens sounded repeatedly in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Infrastructure Under Attack
The secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council accused Iran of war crimes over strikes on civilian and infrastructure targets. The US Central Command said its latest overnight attacks hit surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime assets. Iranian state media said US strikes also hit an electricity facility and a desalination plant in Hormozgan province in southern Iran.
Iranian reports said the Bonji desalination plant was destroyed, cutting water supplies to about 10,000 people, while another plant on Qeshm Island was damaged.
Highway links toward Bandar Abbas were also disrupted after tunnels, bridges and road connections were hit near the country’s main port. Officials in Tehran also acknowledged attacks on power infrastructure for the first time on Friday, urging residents in hot southern provinces to conserve electricity.
Iranian authorities said at least 50 people have been killed and more than 500 injured in US strikes over the past three weeks. They said eight people were killed in a strike on a bridge Friday. The conflict continues to widen, with military targets, civilian facilities and key transport routes all under mounting pressure.