US strikes Iran for ninth night after service member deaths

The United States launched a ninth consecutive night of strikes on Iran after three U.S. service members were killed in recent days, while Tehran claimed new attacks on U.S. targets in Jordan and warned that the Strait of Hormuz would remain unsafe as long as American military operations continue.

U.S. Central Command said the latest wave of attacks was completed at 02:00 GMT Monday and targeted Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and communications networks. CENTCOM said the strikes were intended to “further diminish Iran’s ability to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”

President Donald Trump said the attacks were carried out “in honor” of U.S. personnel killed in the conflict. “We hit them very hard again tonight,” Trump told reporters after returning from the World Cup final. Asked about the deaths, he said, “We feel very badly,” adding that those killed were fighting so “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.”

CENTCOM said a U.S. service member was killed Saturday in northern Iraq during the controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian drone. Two U.S. soldiers were killed Friday in an Iranian strike on a base in Jordan, and the U.S. military said unidentified remains had been recovered there. Officials said verification was continuing and did not say whether the remains belonged to a service member.

The U.S. says 17 military personnel have been killed in the conflict with Iran. Iran says at least 3,000 Iranians, many of them civilians, have been killed since the U.S. and Israel began the war against Iran on Feb. 28, including 168 children and 14 adults killed in a strike on a girls’ school. The U.S. military says it has not completed a full review of that attack.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Monday it launched ballistic missiles at U.S. C-17 transport planes and P-8 aircraft at Aqaba airport in Jordan, claiming several aircraft were heavily damaged. It also said 20 hangars housing U.S. forces at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Azraq were destroyed. There was no confirmation of those claims. The U.S. Embassy had warned Americans Sunday to avoid Aqaba’s airport and seaport because of threats; Jordan denied threats against the sites. Aqaba’s airport was operating again Monday.

The U.S. Embassy in Bahrain also warned that Iran may seek to target unspecified locations in central Manama and urged Americans to remain vigilant and seek shelter if sirens sound or explosions are heard. Bahrain hosts the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. Kuwait’s armed forces said they intercepted Iranian drones, while Iran targeted electricity installations and water desalination plants in Kuwait over the weekend, according to NPR.

Tensions also rose in the Strait of Hormuz, the key oil shipping waterway at the center of the dispute. Iran said two oil tankers exploded and were halted in the southern strait after trying to transit under what it described as U.S. coercion. “This passage is unsafe for the transport of chemical fertiliser or even a single drop of oil and gas,” the IRGC said. CENTCOM disputed the tanker claims, according to the BBC. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said a vessel caught fire about 8 nautical miles northwest of Kumzar, Oman, but the cause had not been verified.

Oil prices continued to rise Monday, topping $90 per barrel for benchmark crude.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state media the war could end when Tehran had “the upper hand in the field.” He said, “The end of the war is possible either through absolute military victory or through negotiations. The right time to negotiate is precisely when you have achieved a reliable field and strategic achievement on the military front.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States “always remains open to a diplomatic solution,” while warning that the world must decide whether to allow Iran to control an international waterway. The latest escalation follows the collapse of peace talks over a memorandum focused on the Strait of Hormuz and the unraveling of a preliminary mid-June deal to stop fighting.