The US has launched another round of air strikes against Iran, targeting coastal surveillance and air defence facilities, following an Iranian attack that killed two American service members in Jordan.
US Central Command (Centcom) said forces successfully hit Iranian military capabilities on Saturday night, with Iranian state media reporting strikes on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz . The strikes marked the eighth consecutive night of US attacks and were “designed to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” Centcom said .
The US said it specifically targeted Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) forces responsible for Friday’s attack in Jordan, where another service member remains missing . The deaths bring the total US military death toll in the conflict to 16, after a Navy pilot who went missing earlier this month was declared dead .
Iran retaliates with drone attacks
In response, Iran’s army said it carried out drone attacks on two US bases in Kuwait, according to state media . The IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency reported “large-scale attacks with kamikaze drones” against an American military depot at Camp Udairi and another at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait .
Iran’s armed forces also claimed to have hit US bases in Bahrain and Jordan in waves of retaliatory strikes . The attacks came after Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a written statement that America’s “repeated breaches” of their preliminary ceasefire agreement had demonstrated that “the signature of the US president is utterly worthless and devoid of credibility” .
Conflict escalates after ceasefire collapse
The attacks follow a week of renewed hostilities in which Washington reimposed its blockade of Iranian ports and Tehran declared the Strait of Hormuz closed, as their preliminary ceasefire collapsed less than a month after it began .
The dispute centred on the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas used to transit. Under the June agreement, the strait was to reopen, but Iran demanded the right to manage traffic through it and charge vessels a service fee .
The fighting has resulted in thousands of deaths, displaced millions of people across the region and fuelled volatility in global energy markets . 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 said .
Civilian infrastructure accusations
Both sides have been accused of targeting civilian infrastructure. The US has denied this, saying it “carried out strikes exclusively on military targets” after Iran said bridges and a station were hit . However, BBC Verify confirmed an attack on a bridge in Hormozgan province, and Iranian state media reported strikes on a grain storage silo, a mineral water factory, and an area near a children’s cancer hospital .
Iran has accused the US of committing “war crimes” by targeting civilian infrastructure , while the Gulf Cooperation Council accused Tehran of targeting civilian infrastructure after Kuwait said a power plant and water distillation plant had been hit .
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth responded to the deaths of the two service members with a post on X that said: “Godspeed, heroes. Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve”
