2 US troops dead, one missing after Iran attacks Jordan base
The deaths mark the first US military fatalities caused by direct Iranian fire since the war began, as Tehran warns Washington of "unforgettable lessons" and fighting intensifies across the region.
Highlights:
- Two US troops killed in Jordan attack
- Iran warns US of "unforgettable lessons"
- Strait of Hormuz conflict intensifies
- Kuwait, Iran report infrastructure damage
The US military on yesterday (18 July) announced the first US troop deaths due to direct Iranian fire since the opening days of the war, saying two were killed and another was missing in an attack on a base in Jordan.
They were killed Friday as the US and partner forces defended against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks, a statement said. Four other service members who were medically evacuated to Jordanian hospitals were later discharged. The dead were not identified.
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Since the war began, 16 US service members have now been killed and over 430 wounded.
Minutes earlier, Iran's supreme leader had warned of "unforgettable lessons" if the United States keeps attacking the Islamic Republic.
The remarks read out on state TV and attributed to Mojtaba Khamenei, still unseen since the war began, also called President Donald Trump's signature "worthless and invalid." The comments came hours after a negotiator said Tehran was suspending its commitments to the interim deal signed about a month ago.
Tehran's declarations snapped another fragile thread as the war shows no end in sight. The deal was aimed at permanently ending the fighting. Now Khamenei warns of "lessons" not only from Iran but its armed proxies in the region, calling them the "Axis of Resistance."
The United States and Iran have been exchanging strikes aimed at infrastructure and military targets. Their battle over the Strait of Hormuz has intensified in a conflict increasingly focused on control of the essential waterway that previously carried a fifth of the world's crude oil. The strikes threaten civilians and services to them, including desalination plants for drinking water, while the global economy again is on alert.
The US Central Command said early Saturday that its seventh straight night of strikes hit "surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities."
The US has violated its commitments under the deal that was signed about a month ago and now Iran is "no longer implementing them," Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran's deputy foreign minister, told state TV.
There was no new word on mediation efforts.
Kuwait sees the most striking damage
The most significant damage from Iranian strikes on Saturday occurred in Kuwait, where a water desalination plant and an oil facility were hit, according to the Kuwait authorities and the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. Both declined to provide locations.
The strikes injured several people at the oil facility and caused a fire at the desalination plant, forcing several power generation units offline. It was the second attack against a desalination plant in two days in the tiny desert nation that depends on desalination for 90% of its drinking water.
Several firefighters and a worker were injured while battling two other blazes sparked by Iranian strikes, according to the Kuwait Fire Force. Kuwait briefly closed its airspace due to missile threats, and Kuwait Airways said it was rescheduling most flights to and from the capital.
Meanwhile, Iraq said it shot down attack drones over the city of Irbil. Jordan's state-run Petra news agency said the kingdom's air defense systems had downed Iranian missiles, while air sirens sounded multiple times in Bahrain throughout the day and in Saudi Arabia in the morning, according to their governments.
The secretary general of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi, accused Iran of war crimes for strikes on infrastructure and civilian facilities.
US strikes hit infrastructure in Iran
US airstrikes hit an electricity and desalination plant in Iran's southern Hormozgan province, Iranian state TV reported. IRNA said the Bonji desalination plant was destroyed, cutting off water supplies to about 10,000 people, and that a desalination plant on strategic Qeshm Island inside the strait was damaged.
Overnight strikes damaged two tunnels and a bridge, disrupting one of the main highways toward Bandar Abbas, Iran's main port that sits near the narrowest part of the strait, according to Iran's state-run news agency. IRNA said three bridges were hit Saturday, including one on a route to Bandar Abbas.
Iran acknowledged "attacks on power infrastructure" during the US airstrikes for the first time Friday when its Energy Ministry issued a call for people to use less power in southern provinces "experiencing extreme heat." It did not specify what was hit.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stepped up its warning that countries hosting US forces should be "prepared to receive a corresponding response," according to Iran's state TV.
Iranian authorities said 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 Friday.
US officials acknowledged 13 additional US service members — 10 Army soldiers and three Navy sailors — had been injured since Monday, but offered no details.
Iran and US vie for Strait of Hormuz
Iran effectively closed the strait to shipping traffic after the war started with US and Israeli strikes on Feb. 28. That sent the price of oil soaring and has given Tehran significant leverage in negotiations.
Iran has said the strait must be under its sole control and that vessels should pay fees to Tehran, even though the world for decades has considered it an international waterway. It fired on ships on recent days. Crossings through the strait fell to a three-week low, according to an international shipping tracker.
Trump has resumed threats to target power stations and bridges to try to compel Iran to loosen its hold. The US in the past week reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports to halt its shipments of crude oil.
A growing amount of the region's energy is being shipped through pipelines, but not nearly enough to offset the decline in shipping.
Before the war began, the US had been in talks with Iran over its nuclear program. Trump now faces political pressure to end the war and avoid the kind of prolonged Middle East conflict he had campaigned against.
