The United States has launched a fresh wave of strikes against Iran, Central Command said, hours after announcing that two US military personnel had been killed in Jordan and a third was missing following an Iranian attack.
Ahead of the strikes, Iran’s supreme leader warned that Washington would pay for “seeking to escalate the conflict”.
US Central Command said in a statement that the airstrikes began at 6pm ET (11pm Irish time last night) under the direction of President Donald Trump.
“The strikes are 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,” it said, offering no further details.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said the US is ‘seeking to escalate the conflict’
The latest escalation follows a sharp intensification of attacks by the US and Iran since an interim ceasefire agreement signed a month ago collapsed last week, fuelling fears of a renewed all-out war.
Central Command said the two service members were killed on Friday, while a third remained missing in action.
The deaths raised the number of US military personnel killed since the war began to 16. More than 420 others have been wounded.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X: “Godspeed, heroes.
“Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve.”
Iran appeared to strike at Saudi Arabia, Jordan and other US allies in the Gulf yesterday, after American forces attacked Iranian bridges, power facilities and other critical infrastructure.
In a written statement published by Iranian state media and the official social media accounts of Iran’s supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said repeated US violations of the interim agreement proved that Mr Trump’s signature was “utterly worthless and devoid of credibility”.
“Now that the American enemy is seeking to escalate the conflict thereby incurring even heavier costs and further humiliation, it should know that the noble nation of Iran and the Resistance Front have unforgettable lessons in store for it,” the statement said.
The White House did not immediately answer a request for comment.
Smoke billows near the oil facility in Mangaf, Kuwait, following an Iranian strike
Mr Khamenei’s whereabouts remain unknown.
The conflict began when the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran at the end of February in an attempt to cripple its missile programme and regional proxies. The fighting has since disrupted energy supplies, stoked fears of global inflation and triggered a struggle for control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Kuwait endured sustained attacks yesterday. Its armed forces said they had intercepted Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, while several firefighters and oil sector workers were injured as they responded to the strikes.
Iran’s IRGC said it struck a US military support centre at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait and destroyed a radar facility at Ali Al Salem Air Base.
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation later said one of its oil facilities had been hit during “repeated Iranian attacks”, leaving significant damage and several people injured, according to the state news agency.
Beyond Kuwait, the IRGC targeted a location in Bahrain where US combat aircraft had assembled at Sheikh Isa Air Base, as well as an intelligence data centre, Iranian media reported.
The Revolutionary Guards also destroyed at least two US fighter jets and three other aircraft in a missile and drone strike yesterday on the American base in Al Azraq, Jordan, Iranian state television reported.
Reuters was unable to independently confirm those reports.
Iran’s Health Ministry said 50 people had been killed in US strikes over the past three weeks
In Saudi Arabia, an early warning system sent alerts instructing residents of Al-Kharj and Yanbu to take shelter.
Al-Kharj, located east of Riyadh, contains a military base hosting US troops. Yanbu, on the Red Sea coast, is home to a major oil export terminal.
Two people familiar with the situation said the warnings were triggered by an Iranian missile attack, the first against Saudi Arabia in more than three months.
Saudi state media did not disclose what prompted the alerts, while the government media office did not reply to a request for comment.
The IRGC did not claim or mention an attack on Saudi Arabia.
Earlier, US Central Command said its forces had struck Iranian surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage facilities and maritime capabilities.
US airstrikes early in the day killed three people and wounded eight in the southern province of Hormozgan, which borders the Strait of Hormuz, while two bridges and a road tunnel were damaged, Iranian state television reported.
American forces later carried out additional airstrikes in the same province, the semi-official Fars news agency reported, citing provincial authorities.
Iran’s Health Ministry said US strikes across the country had killed 50 people and wounded more than 500 over the past three weeks.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei accused Washington of attempting to seize control of the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway that normally carries about one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.
Both sides have targeted shipping, with the US saying it is implementing a naval blockade and Iran maintaining that it strikes vessels that breach its navigation rules in the Strait of Hormuz.
The European Union and Gulf states urged Iran to immediately and unconditionally end all attacks and interference with maritime navigation, and to keep the strait open without conditions or fees, according to a joint statement reported by Saudi state television.
