U.S. strikes target Iran after first combat deaths in Middle East escalation
The United States and Iran traded missiles and airstrikes on Sunday, as Washington moved to retaliate for the first U.S. military casualties since open hostilities resumed in the Middle East war. The exchange marks a significant escalation, with both sides blaming each other for the unraveling of an earlier preliminary deal aimed at ending the conflict.
At the heart of the deadlock is the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway through which about a fifth of the world’s oil passes. Iran’s closure of the strait after the war began in late February has become a key bargaining chip in negotiations, even as the U.S. reimposed its own blockade on Iranian ports. On Sunday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they stopped two of four ships attempting to transit the strait via an “unsafe route,” forcing the other two to abandon the journey.
Iran said it struck two U.S. bases in Kuwait in response to more than a week of intensifying American attacks, which Tehran claims have hit transport infrastructure, industrial sites, and even an unfinished nuclear power plant. The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran confirmed the U.S. had attacked the Darkhovin nuclear facility in the country’s southwest, calling it “an aggressive and brutal act contrary to international law.” The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, said the plant contained no nuclear material during its last inspection but reiterated its call for military restraint near all nuclear sites.
Jordan reported intercepting missiles a day after the U.S. military confirmed two service members were killed there Friday while defending against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks. A third American remains missing. The deaths bring the total confirmed U.S. military fatalities to 16 since the U.S. and Israel launched a wave of strikes on Iranian targets on February 28, according to U.S. Central Command.
Washington has now conducted eight consecutive nights of airstrikes against Iran, with Central Command stating the operations are designed to “swiftly punish Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces who launched attacks against American service members.”
In a separate incident, Israel’s military said its forces, alongside Jordan’s, intercepted an Iranian missile heading toward the Jordanian port city of Aqaba, just across the border from Israel’s resort town of Eilat. Iran did not immediately claim responsibility, though the U.S. embassy in Amman had earlier warned of a “specific and credible threat” targeting the port and airport. Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed to strike Iran with “full force” if it fires missiles at Israel, adding that the military is prepared for both defensive and offensive action.
Jordan later summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires to protest what it called “the continuation of brutal and unjustified Iranian acts of aggression” targeting its territory. Meanwhile, in the Gulf region, Kuwait’s electricity ministry said a power and water plant was attacked for a second consecutive day, causing a fire. Bahrain’s military also reported intercepting and destroying “a number of treacherous Iranian aerial attacks,” accusing Tehran of targeting civilians.
Iran’s health ministry said Friday that 50 people had been killed and more than 500 wounded in the recent fighting. Hope for a political settlement has dimmed, though mediators have continued trying to bring both sides back to the negotiating table. Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded his father after he was killed in the opening salvo of U.S.-Israeli strikes, vowed to teach Americans “unforgettable lessons.” Major General Mohsen Rezaei, a senior military adviser to Khamenei, warned that Tehran would resume “full-scale offensive operations” if U.S. strikes continued. And Iran’s central military commander, Ali Abdollahi, said further U.S. aggression would face a “decisive and devastating response,” according to state television.