US launches strikes to ‘punish’ Iran after troops killed

The United States said airstrikes on Sunday aimed to “punish” Iran over the first US military deaths since renewed hostilities with the Islamic Republic.

Iran rapidly announced its own retaliation, saying it attacked Kuwait in response to more than a week of intensifying attacks -- which Tehran said included strikes on an airport, a railway station and bridges.

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A preliminary deal aimed at ending the war has collapsed as the foes fight to break the deadlock over the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway key to the world’s oil supply.

The Iranian army announced on Sunday it targeted two US bases in Kuwait with drones.

Kuwait’s military later said it was responding to another round of Iranian drone and missile strikes, while sirens sounded in Bahrain.

Tehran had also launched fresh strikes in Jordan, where the US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said two service members were killed Friday as they “defended against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks.”

It said another service member was still missing in action.

Those deaths brought to 16 the confirmed number of US military fatalities since US-Israeli strikes started the war on February 28.
The US military said it carried out an eighth consecutive night of strikes against Iran, with targets including units behind the attack that killed the two American troops in Jordan.

The attacks aimed to “swiftly punish Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces who launched attacks against American service members in Jordan last night,” said US Central Command.

The Iranian news agencies Fars and Tasnim simultaneously reported US attacks on Sirik, a port located on the Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran.

‘Unforgettable lesson’

Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who took over from his father after he was killed in the opening salvo of US-Israeli strikes, vowed to teach the Americans an “unforgettable lesson,” in a statement carried by state TV.

Major General Mohsen Rezaei, a senior military adviser to Khamenei, warned that Tehran would resume “full-scale offensive operations” if US strikes continued in the coming days.

And Iran’s central military commander, Ali Abdollahi, warned that further US aggression would face a “decisive and devastating response,” according to a statement carried by state television on Sunday.

The renewed violence was initially sparked by Iranian attacks on ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Iran closed the strait after the war broke out, and control over the route has become leverage in negotiations with Washington, which reimposed on Tuesday its own blockade of Iran’s ports.

The health ministry said Friday that 50 people had been killed since the renewed fighting broke out and more than 500 hurt.

Vital infrastructure

Kuwait accused Tehran of targeting civilian sites and vital infrastructure.

The Iranian army said it had targeted an air base used by American forces in Bahrain, according to the state broadcaster.

And in Jordan, the Iranian state broadcaster reported on Saturday that fuel tanks at Al-Azraq US base were targeted.

Hope for a political settlement to the war has fallen by the wayside, though mediators have attempted to bring both sides back to the negotiating table.

US President Donald Trump has threatened to hit Iranian infrastructure, although there has been no confirmation from Washington since then that US forces have begun to do so.

Iranian state news agency IRNA reported Saturday that US attacks killed three people and wounded eight in the southern province of Hormozgan.

In Khuzestan province, the deputy provincial governor said eight people had been killed over the past 10 days, according to Iran’s Tasnim.

Iran also said the supply of drinking water to several southern villages had been cut off, accusing the US of striking power facilities and desalination plants in the village of Bonji, according to Tasnim.

With AFP

Read more: Two US service members in Jordan killed in Iranian attack, US says