US strikes Iran in escalating campaign after troops killed

The US and Iran engaged in a quickening series of tit-for-tat attacks, with the American military conducting a wave of strikes on the Islamic Republic following the deaths of service personnel.

US Central Command said Sunday it had completed a ninth straight evening of attacks targeting Iranian command centers, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and communications networks. The aim was to “further diminish” Iran’s ability to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz, it said.

A US service member in northern Iraq was killed Saturday while trying to conduct a controlled detonation of an unexploded Iranian one-way attack drone, the military said in a social media post. A second service member was wounded in that attempt.

On Friday, two US troops were killed in Jordan in an attack the US ascribed to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. That attack also wounded four others and left one missing.

Saturday’s death brings the total US toll to 17 since the US-Israeli war on Iran began on February 28. Central Command also said it found unidentified remains in Jordan and it was investigating to determine if it was the missing service member.

President Donald Trump told reporters on Sunday that “those great patriots were out there fighting so that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.” He also said he feels “very badly,” when asked about the war casualties.

“We hit it very hard again tonight, and we did that in honour” of the personnel killed, Trump said of the strikes on Iran.

A week of back-and-forth strikes has expanded beyond strictly military targets to include bridges, utilities and port facilities, suggesting little prospect of a return to the fragile ceasefire signed last month. Adding to the pessimism, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that certain demands related to the country’s nuclear efforts may remain “unresolvable.”

“The two sides are stuck in an escalatory spiral,” said Bloomberg Economics analysts Dina Esfandiary and Becca Wasser. “This will likely lead to an ugly week in the war: more strikes and counterstrikes that move up the escalation ladder and likely higher oil prices. The more things escalate, the harder it will be for Iran and the US to walk back.”

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Brent crude rose almost 4% before paring some gains to trade above $90 a barrel, the highest since mid-June.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in the US on Sunday that although Iran continues to send signals that it wants to negotiate, the US military is responding to its missile and drone strikes. He also highlighted signs of a split inside the Tehran regime between more pragmatic elements that want an agreement and hardliners who want to fight.

The US is hitting Iranian assets that are being used to attack commercial shipping, Rubio said, referring to the passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. “As long as Iran insists on controlling an international waterway, we’re going to have to respond to that.”

Kuwait again bore the brunt of Iran’s retaliation. This weekend alone, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said an unspecified oil site sustained “significant material losses,” causing its evacuation and a number of injuries, while two power and desalination plants have now been hit.

Kuwait’s army said in a social media post the attacks on the power and desalination plants caused fires and “severe damage” to “vital institutions.”

Israel said Sunday it intercepted an Iranian drone near the Israel-Syria border, with Defense Minister Israel Katz warning Tehran that it will re-engage if attacked.

The US was sending more warplanes to the Middle East, the New York Times reported, citing anonymous US officials. The planes included F-16 fighter jets and F-35 jets, as well as additional aerial refueling aircraft. The movements were signs of a possible US escalation in strikes.

In separate statements on Saturday, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar expressed concern over the escalation, and Jordan summoned an Iranian diplomat. Targeting civilian infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, desalination plants, energy facilities and transportation hubs “cannot, under any circumstances, be accepted or justified,” the UAE said.

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Tensions also spiked in the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway vital to global energy supplies that’s been at the heart of negotiations and where Tehran is asserting control. The IRGC Navy said on Sunday it had halted four unidentified vessels attempting to use an “unsafe route” after disregarding warnings.

Two “met with accidents and were stopped in their tracks,” while the others “abandoned the route and turned back,” the navy said. It vowed “not a single drop of oil, gas, or chemical fertiliser will pass through the Strait of Hormuz without coordination and permission.”

The UK Maritime Trade Operations said it had received information from military authorities that a vessel is on fire northwest of Kumzar, Oman. The cause of the blaze has not been verified, it added.

“The oil market is again tightening, which is likely to keep oil prices supported,” Giovanni Staunovo, a commodity analyst at UBS Group AG, said by phone. “Repeated strikes on vessels crossing the Strait of Hormuz have resulted in a drop in tankers exiting the Gulf” and “energy infrastructure attacks are something which is likely to keep oil market participants concerned.”

Deal abandoned

Tehran announced Saturday it would no longer adhere to the terms of the interim peace deal after unleashing heavy attacks on Washington’s allies in the Middle East in retaliation for the US strikes.

Beyond bombing Iran more often, the US is again blockading the country’s ports and has scrapped a waiver for sanctions on its oil exports.

Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei warned of “unforgettable lessons” for the US. In a statement Saturday, he said US violations of the memorandum — a 60-day ceasefire while the US and Iran negotiated terms for reopening the Strait of Hormuz and curtailing Iran’s nuclear program — “have once again proven to everyone the truth of how worthless and invalid the signature of the US president is.”

Khamenei hasn’t been seen in public since US attacks killed his father and severely injured him in the first days of the war. Iranian officials say 50 people have been killed and more than 500 injured by US attacks since June 27.

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