US launches airstrikes on Iran
US launches airstrikes on Iran
US launches airstrikes on Iran
The United States launched a new round of airstrikes against Iran, targeting its coastal surveillance and air defense facilities, according to US military officials. The strikes, which were carried out on Saturday night, were designed to further degrade Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and to "swiftly punish" Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces responsible for the attack that killed two US troops in Jordan on Friday.
The US Central Command said that forces successfully hit Iranian military capabilities, while Iranian state media reported that Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz had been struck. The strikes were the eighth successive night of attacks, and were intended to weaken Iran's ability to restrict the traffic of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.
The US and Iran have been exchanging strikes in recent days, with both sides accused of striking critical infrastructure. On Saturday, Iran said it carried out "large-scale attacks with kamikaze drones" against an American military "depot at Camp Udairi" and another at "Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait", according to the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency.
The US strikes came after the US military announced its first troop deaths from direct Iranian fire since the opening days of the war, resulting from a drone and missile attack on a base in Jordan. The dead were not identified, and Central Command did not offer any further details on the deaths. Since the war began, 16 US service members have been killed and over 430 wounded.
Iran's supreme leader warned of "unforgettable lessons" if the US keeps attacking the Islamic Republic, and called President Donald Trump's signature "worthless and invalid". An Iranian negotiator said Tehran was suspending its commitments to the interim deal signed about a month ago and aimed at permanently ending the fighting.
The battle has focused on control of the Strait of Hormuz, a strategically important waterway through which roughly one-fifth of the world's oil supply passes. The widening strikes now threaten civilians and infrastructure, including desalination plants for drinking water, while the global economy is again on alert.
Iran has said the strait must be under its sole control and vessels should pay fees to Tehran, even though the world for decades has considered it an international waterway. Iran fired on ships in recent days, and crossings through the strait fell to a three-week low, according to an international shipping tracker.
Trump has resumed threats to target Iran's power stations and bridges to try to compel Tehran to loosen its hold. The US in the past week reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports to halt its shipments of crude oil, and the military on Saturday said it had redirected five ships and disabled one since then.
The US Central Command said that its seventh consecutive night of strikes hit "surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities". US airstrikes hit an electricity and desalination plant in Hormozgan province, Iranian state TV reported. The Bonji desalination plant was destroyed, cutting off water supplies to about 10,000 people, and a desalination plant on strategic Qeshm Island inside the Strait of Hormuz was damaged.
Iranian authorities said that at least 50 people have been killed and more than 500 wounded in US strikes in the past three weeks, including eight killed in a strike on a bridge on Friday.
