Dubai/Cairo: US forces struck targets inside Iran for a ninth straight day on Monday as American military fatalities in the renewed conflict climbed to three and concerns mounted about navigation through the Strait of Hormuz., Reuters reported.
US Central Command said it had launched “a new wave of strikes” aimed at degrading Iran’s capability to attack commercial vessels transiting the strait’s crucial shipping lanes. The command provided no further operational details.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, citing its reporters, said missiles hit several Iranian cities early on Monday. Tasnim reported explosions in Tabriz, Chabahar, Konarak, Bandar Mahshahr and Bandar Imam Khomeini.
The US announced a casualty on Sunday, saying a service member was killed on Saturday in northern Iraq during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian attack drone. Central Command characterized the death as occurring during disposal of unexploded ordnance.
Earlier in the weekend, the US military said two service members died in Jordan and another was initially listed as missing in action. On Sunday, Central Command said “unidentified remains” had been recovered at the site of Friday’s attack and that an identification process is under way.
Those recent announcements brought the number of US military fatalities in the conflict to 17, with more than 420 others wounded, the US said.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it conducted a surprise strike against “the enemy’s special operations headquarters in Syria’s Al-Tanf area.”
Iranian state television reported that Iran had launched a drone attack on US military assets and equipment at Kuwait’s Al-Adiri camp and Ali Al Salem Air Base early on Sunday, adding both bases had been targeted previously during Tehran’s strikes on US forces and allied positions in the Gulf.
Kuwait’s government said a desalination plant suffered a second straight day of damage, catching fire in what officials described as a direct hit on vital civilian infrastructure.
Worries over energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz have persisted since the United States and Iran resumed open hostilities after accusing one another of repeated ceasefire violations.
The Royal Navy’s United Kingdom Maritime Operations Centre said late on Sunday it had received a report of a vessel on fire near the Omani coastline but had not verified the cause.
Oil prices rose sharply on Monday, with Brent crude futures climbing about 3% to trade above $90 a barrel, their highest level since June 11.
Monday’s strikes followed Central Command’s statement that an eighth consecutive wave of attacks the previous day had targeted Iranian coastal surveillance and air-defence sites.
The United States and Iran have escalated strikes as an interim ceasefire agreed a month ago unravels and their contest for control over the Strait of Hormuz deepens, increasing the risk of a broader return to full-scale war.
“We hit them very hard again tonight, and we did it in honour of” the U.S. service members killed since Friday, former President Donald Trump said after returning from the World Cup final.
The U.S. Embassy in Bahrain warned it had intelligence suggesting Iran might target unspecified sites in central Manama and urged Americans in the kingdom to stay alert.