US-Iran attacks escalate as strikes kill two American troops

The U.S. and Iran engaged in a quickening series of tit-for-tat attacks, causing fresh chaos in the Middle East over the weekend after strikes by the Islamic Republic killed two American service members in Jordan.

U.S. forces hit Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf overnight, as well as southern cities including Shadegan, Sirik and Hajiabad, Iranian media reported. There were no immediate details on casualties or damage.

Kuwait again bore the brunt of Iran’s retaliation, after a power and water desalination plant was targeted, making it the third attack in as many days, causing a fire and impacting a large number of generation units, local authorities said. Drones targeted U.S. forces at Camp Buehring and the Ali Al Salem Air Base, Iran’s state-run IRIB News said, although there was no confirmation that either site was hit.

There was confusion in Jordan after the U.S. embassy said the airport and sea port at the Red Sea city of Aqaba had been evacuated due to a “specific and credible threat.” While Jordanian authorities initially denied that, the Army later said it intercepted three Iranian missiles targeting the country.

Bahrain sounded warning sirens on Sunday, before saying it had intercepted a wave of Iranian aerial attacks.

A week of back-and-forth strikes by both sides 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 in an interview posted on his Telegram channel on Sunday that certain demands related to the country’s nuclear efforts may remain “unresolvable.”

U.S. Central Command described the recent American strikes as seeking to reduce Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping and “swiftly punish” Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces behind the Jordan attack on Friday. That assault, which also wounded four troops and left one missing, brought the total US death toll to 16 since the US-Israeli war on Iran began on Feb. 28.

Brent crude rose near $88 per barrel on Friday — its biggest weekly advance since April — following an Axios report that the Trump administration notified Israel it’s sending more refueling planes to the country, a possible signal the US may widen its military operations.

“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.”

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

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 IRCG 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 fertilizer will pass through the Strait of Hormuz without coordination and permission.”

Saudi warning

The Saudi Civil Defense on Saturday also issued early warnings of potential dangers to Al-Kharj, southeast of Riyadh, and Yanbu, a Red Sea port that’s key to the kingdom’s continued oil exports while the Strait of Hormuz is blocked. It later said the danger had passed.

Tehran announced the same day 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 U.S. strikes.

Beyond bombing Iran more often, the U.S. 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 U.S. In a statement Saturday, he said U.S. violations of the memorandum — a 60-day ceasefire while the U.S. 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 U.S. president is.”

Khamenei hasn’t been seen in public since U.S. 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 U.S. attacks since June 27.

Sunday’s attacks added to one of the worst sustained waves of Iranian strikes on Kuwait since the conflict began. 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 Airways rescheduled most of its flights and the foreign ministry warned the repeated targeting of vital installations “reveals a systemic aggressive approach that targets civilian assets, endangering the lives and safety of civilians,” in flagrant violation of international law.

Iran also targeted U.S. radar and aircraft in Qatar, one of the main mediators between Washington and Tehran, according to the Tasnim news agency. Central Command earlier said a series of U.S. strikes on Friday hit surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage and maritime capabilities.

While the targeting of civilian infrastructure marks an expansion of the post-deal strikes by both sides, the worsening hostilities haven’t reached the level seen at the war’s height in March and early April. Then, the U.S. and Israel bombarded Iranian cities on a mass scale and Tehran fired thousands of drones and missiles at Gulf Arab states and Israel.

The spiraling tensions have also stirred speculation in Israel that it could rejoin the war alongside the U.S. Itamar Ben Gvir, an Israeli security cabinet minister, declined to comment on that possibility in a radio interview on Sunday, while voicing hope that Trump would hit Iran hard.

The U.S. State Department urged Americans to reconsider travel through or to the Middle East given the potential for “unforeseen escalation.”

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(With assistance from Dan Williams.)

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