US renews strikes on Iran after two military personnel killed
The attacks are ‘designed to further degrade’ Teheran’s ability to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz
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[DUBAI] The US said on Sunday (Jul 19) that it had completed an eighth straight night of attacks against Iran after earlier announcing that two American military personnel were killed in Jordan, while US allies in the region reported more Iranian attacks.
The US and Iran have intensified attacks as an interim ceasefire deal signed a month ago has unravelled and a struggle for control of the Strait of Hormuz has deepened, raising the risk of a return to all-out hostilities.
Israeli officials said Israel was preparing to receive more US refuelling aircraft after the recent escalation, and ahead of a possible expansion of US military operations against Iran.
US Central Command (Centcom) said in a statement that the latest airstrikes began on Saturday at President Donald Trump’s direction.
“The strikes are designed to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and swiftly punish Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces who launched attacks against American service members in Jordan last night,” it said.
Centcom later said it had completed its wave of attacks, hitting Iranian military coastal surveillance and air defence facilities.
The conflict, which began when the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb 28 hoping to disable its nuclear and missile programmes and degrade its regional proxies, has led to major disruption to energy supplies and fears over global inflation.
Kuwait, Jordan report fresh Iranian attacks
Iranian reports said the US carried out an attack near Sirik in southern Iran, and near Shadegan, close to the border with Iraq.
Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization condemned a US attack on the site of a nuclear power plant under construction in Darkhovin, Iran’s Mehr news agency reported.
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The International Atomic Energy Agency said it was investigating reports of an overnight attack, noting that the plant was in the very early stages of construction.
In response to the latest strikes, Iran carried out a drone attack that targeted US military assets and equipment at Kuwait’s Al-Adiri camp and Ali Al Salem Air Base, Iranian state TV reported early on Sunday.
Both bases have been targeted as part of Iran’s attacks against US assets and allies in the Gulf since last week.
Kuwait’s Electricity Ministry said a desalination plant had been attacked for the second day running, causing a fire. Kuwait’s armed forces said earlier they had again intercepted Iranian missiles, after a sustained Iranian attack on Saturday.
Bahrain’s air defences also intercepted an Iranian attack on Sunday, its state TV reported. Sirens sounded in Jordan, where the military said it had shot down three Iranian missiles.
The Israeli military said it had detected the launch of missiles from Iran towards the Jordanian city of Aqaba, on Israel’s border.
In recent days both sides have taken aim at shipping traffic, with the US saying it is enforcing a naval blockade on Iran, and Teheran saying it targets vessels violating its rules on navigating the Strait of Hormuz, which usually handles one-fifth of global oil supply.
Iran’s IRGC said on Sunday that four vessels had attempted to transit the strait via an “unsafe route” with US backing after ignoring IRGC warnings. It said two had abandoned the attempt while the other two were involved in an “accident”. It did not elaborate.
Deaths of two US service members
Centcom said the deaths of two of its service personnel had occurred on Friday and that a third US service member was missing in action. The announcement brought the number of American service members killed since the war began to 16; more than 420 have been wounded.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth posted on X: “Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve.”
Iran’s Health Ministry said on Saturday that 50 people had been killed and more than 500 wounded in US strikes on the country over the past three weeks alone.
Overall, thousands have been killed and several million internally displaced in the conflict, mainly in Iran and in Lebanon, where a war between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hizbollah was reignited.
In a written statement carried by Iranian state media late on Saturday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said US actions had shown that Trump’s signature was “utterly worthless and devoid of credibility”.
The statement warned of “even heavier costs and further humiliation” for the US. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Khamenei’s whereabouts remain a mystery. He has not been seen in public since before his father and predecessor as supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, was killed in an airstrike on the first day of the war. REUTERS
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