U.S. Military Launches New Airstrikes To ‘Swiftly Punish’ Iran For Deaths Of U.S. Troops

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. military says it is launching new air strikes against Iran to “swiftly punish” the country’s Revolutionary Guard following an attack on an Iranian base on Sunday. Jordan It killed two American soldiers, one was missing, and four required hospitalization.

US Central Command said the attacks were designed to further weaken Iran’s ability to restrict oil tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway accounted for about 20% of global oil supplies before the war. Iran effectively closed the strait to ship traffic after the war that started with the attacks of the USA and Israel on February 28.

The new attacks come after the US military announced the first troop deaths from direct Iranian fire since the early days of the war, following a drone and missile attack on a base in Jordan on Friday. The identities of those killed were not determined and Central Command did not provide further details about the deaths.

Since the war began, 16 US soldiers have been killed and more than 430 others have been injured.

An area near Sirik in the Strait of Hormuz was targeted around 1:30 a.m. local time, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported, citing local officials in the southern Hormozgan province.

According to IRNA, a location near Hajiabad in the same province was targeted and explosions were heard in Bandar Abbas. An area near Qeshm Island in the strait was also targeted, according to Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB.

On Saturday, Iranian state media reported that US airstrikes hit an electricity and desalination plant in Hormozgan, damaging tunnels and bridges and disrupting the main highway leading to Iran’s main port of Bandar Abbas, near the narrowest part of the strait.

According to state media, an official from the Gulf province of Khuzestan said that an attack took place near the city of Shadegan.

Trump has threatened to target Iran’s power plants and bridges to force Tehran to loosen its grip on the Strait of Hormuz.

Last week, the United States reimposed a naval blockade of Iranian ports to halt crude oil shipments, and the military said on Saturday it had since redirected five ships and disabled one.

At least 50 people have been killed and more than 500 injured in US attacks over the past three weeks, Iranian officials said on Saturday, eight of whom died in an attack on a bridge on Friday.

In neighboring Iraq, a drone crashed into the base of the Iranian Kurdish opposition group Kurdistan Freedom Party near Erbil early Sunday, injuring eight of its members, according to the group’s military official, Rebaz Sharifi.

Residents of Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region, also heard explosions from air defense systems early Sunday.

Erbil has been the target of drone attacks multiple times in the last four days; This coincided with Iraq’s new Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s visit to Washington last week and ongoing tensions between the US and Iran.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but in the past both Iran and Iran-backed Iraqi militias have launched attacks on the Kurdish region, where both US troops and armed Iranian Kurdish opposition groups are present.

Minutes before the United States announced the troop deaths early Saturday, Iran’s supreme leader warned of “unforgettable lessons” if the United States continued to attack the Islamic Republic.

In statements read on state television and attributed to Mojtaba Khamenei and not seen since the beginning of the war, President Donald Trump’s signature was said to be “worthless and invalid.” An Iranian negotiator said Tehran has suspended its commitments to Iran. interim agreement The agreement, signed about a month ago, aimed to end the conflicts permanently.

Iran’s joint military command said US “greed, tyranny, totalitarianism or brutality” would be met with a “devastating response”.

As the war shows, Tehran’s statements resolved another sensitive issue no end in sight. Khamenei now warns of “lessons” to be learned not only from Iran but also from its armed proxies in the region, calling them the “Axis of Resistance.” The USA has issued a global travel warning due to rising tensions.

The war focused on maintaining control Strait of Hormuz. The global economy is again on alert, with expanding attacks now threatening civilians and infrastructure, including drinking water desalination plants.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Garibabadi, told state television that the United States had violated its commitments under the agreement and Iran “no longer implements them.”

No new statements were made regarding mediation efforts.

The last recorded death of a US service member was a helicopter pilot who crashed into the Arabian Sea earlier this month. An Iranian drone at the beginning of the war Attack on command center in Kuwait killed six soldiers. Another soldier lost his life Six people died when a refueling plane crashed following an attack on a base in Saudi Arabia crashed in Iraq.

The worst damage from Saturday’s Iranian attacks occurred in Kuwait, where a water treatment plant and an oil facility were hit, according to Kuwaiti officials and the Kuwait Oil Company. Both refused to give locations.

this was that Second attack on desalination plant in two days in the small desert country where 90% of drinking water comes from desalination. The strikes resulted in many injuries at the oil facility and a fire at the desalination plant, causing many power generation units to go offline.

According to the Kuwait Fire Force, several firefighters and one worker were injured while fighting two other fires caused by Iranian attacks. Kuwait briefly closed its airspace due to missile threats, and Kuwait Airways said it had rescheduled most of its flights to and from the capital.

Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency said the kingdom’s air defenses shot down Iranian missiles, while air sirens sounded multiple times throughout the day in Bahrain and in the mornings in Saudi Arabia, according to their governments.

Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi, secretary-general of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, accused Iran of committing war crimes for attacks on infrastructure and civilian facilities.

This story has been corrected to change the day from Saturday to Sunday to reflect Dubai, United Arab Emirates Dateline.

Ezzidin reported from Cairo and Toropin from Washington. Associated Press writers Amir Vahdat in Tehran; Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel; Stella Martany in Erbil, Iraq; and Matt Lee and Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.