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US and Iran exchange strikes after two US soldiers killed in Jordan
Jul 19, 202605:44 PM
US and Iran exchange strikes after two US soldiers killed in Jordan
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The US launched another round of air strikes against Iran on Saturday night, targeting its coastal surveillance and air defence facilities, US military officials said.

 

Iranian media said an under-construction nuclear power plant in the south-western city of Darkhoveyn had been struck as well as Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.

 

Centcom said it also targeted Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) responsible for the attack that killed two US troops in Jordan on Friday, where another service member remains missing.

 

Iran has carried out its own strikes, with Kuwaiti officials saying an electricity and water plant had been hit for the second time in two days. Bahrain said air defences had intercepted an attack.

 

The US and Iran have ramped up attacks against each other in recent days, with both sides accused of striking critical infrastructure.

 

Washington has also reimposed its blockade of Iranian ports and Tehran has declared the Strait of Hormuz closed, as their preliminary ceasefire collapsed less than a month after it began.

 

On Sunday the IRGC said two vessels had ignored Iranian warnings not to transit the Strait of Hormuz and were consequently involved in "an accident". It warned that all vessels that are "influenced" by the US and "use unsafe routes" will "certainly face accidents".

 

Also on Sunday, the US embassy in Amman said Jordanian authorities had evacuated the international airport and seaport in the southern city of Aqaba due to a "specific and credible threat".

 

However, a Jordanian government spokesperson promptly denied this - saying it hadn't detected any recent threats and said neither port had been evacuated.

 

The US military said its eighth successive night of attacks on Iran were "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".

 

Verified footage from inside the Jordanian facility showed at least two impacts and an explosion.

 

Responding to the deaths of US soldiers, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said: “Godspeed, heroes. Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve.”

 

The US death toll in the conflict has now risen to 16 after an American Navy pilot who went missing earlier this month was declared dead.

 

In Iran, at least 50 people have been killed and more than 500 injured in US strikes over the past three weeks, the country's health ministry says.

 

On Saturday the Gulf Cooperation Council - an alliance including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates - accused Tehran of targeting civilian infrastructure after Kuwait said a power plant and a water distillation plant had been hit.

 

On Sunday, Kuwait said the same power and water distillation plant had been hit for the second time by Iran in two days, resulting in a fire. Efforts are underway to control the fire, it said.

 

Iran said it had also targeted an air base and a depot used by US forces in Kuwait on Saturday.

 

The US has meanwhile said it "carried out strikes exclusively on military targets, including military logistics infrastructure" after Iran said bridges and a station were hit.

 

Under international law, attacking civilians or civilian areas is illegal. However, in certain circumstances, civilian objects - like a bridge or a power plant - lose their protection if they are used to support the enemy's war effort.

 

Washington and Tehran struck a preliminary deal to end the war in June, but the agreement unravelled within weeks - with President Donald Trump declaring the agreement "over" on 8 July.

 

Late on Saturday, Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a written statement that America's "repeated breaches" of the agreement had "laid bare a fundamental truth: the signature of the US president is utterly worthless and devoid of credibility".

 

Source: BBC

– Agencies

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