By Ochiaka Ugwu
US Central Command Centcom said it has targeted Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) responsible for the attack that killed two US troops in Jordan on Friday, where another service member remains missing.
In response to the latest strikes, Iran’s army said it carried out drone attacks on two US bases in Kuwait, according to state media. Bahrain has said it intercepted aerial attacks.
Recall that US and Iran have ramped up attacks against each other in recent days, with both sides accused of striking critical infrastructure.
The US launched another round of air strikes against Iran on Saturday night, targeting its coastal surveillance and air defence facilities, US military officials said.
Iranian state media said Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz had been struck.
US has also reimposed its blockade of Iranian ports and Tehran has declared the Strait of Hormuz closed, as their preliminary ceasefire collapsed less than a month after it began.
On Sunday the IRGC said two vessels had ignored Iranian warnings not to transit the Strait of Hormuz and were consequently involved in “an accident”. It warned that all vessels that are “influenced” by the US and “use unsafe routes” will “certainly face accidents”.
On Sunday morning, the US embassy in Amman said Jordanian authorities had evacuated the international airport and seaport in the southern port city of Aqaba due to a “specific and credible threat”, and strongly advised Americans to refrain from travelling to either.
The US military said its eighth successive night of attacks on Iran were “designed to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz” and “swiftly punish Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces who launched attacks against American service members in Jordan last night”.
Reacting on the killings of US soldiers, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said: “Godspeed, heroes. Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve.”
The US death toll in the conflict has now risen to 16 after an American Navy pilot who went missing earlier this month was declared dead, marking the second increase in the toll this week.
In Iran, at least 50 people have been killed and more than 500 injured in US strikes over the past three weeks, the country’s health ministry says.
On Saturday the Gulf Cooperation Council accused Tehran of targeting civilian infrastructure after Kuwait said a power plant and a water distillation plant had been hit. Iran said it had also targeted an air base and a depot used by US forces in Kuwait.
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