Two US troops killed and one missing in Jordan after Iranian attacks
Sirens sound in Bahrain and Kuwait accuses Tehran of targeting civilian sites and infrastructure as Iran strikes US allies
Two US troops were killed and one remains missing in Jordan after Iran launched a wave of attacks against US allies in the Middle East
Iran’s attacks came as the renewal of US strikes on Iran entered a second week and fighting escalated over the strait of Hormuz
Jordan’s military had earlier said it had intercepted 10 Iranian missiles fired into its airspace overnight, without reporting any damage
On Friday the US military said it had carried out the seventh consecutive night of strikes on Iran since president Donald Trump declared their temporary ceasefire agreement “over”, while the signature of Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was “worthless and invalid”
A statement attributed to Khamenei, who has remained unseen since the war began, also warned of “unforgettable lessons” if the US continues attacks
Kuwait on Saturday accused Iran of targeting civilian sites and vital infrastructure in the country, such as a power and water desalination plant. Kuwait, which is extremely arid, relies on desalinated water for about 90% of its drinking water
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The country was forced to close its airspace briefly as it intercepted Iranian missiles and drones, and said several Kuwaiti firefighters and a worker were injured while battling blazes sparked by Iranian strikes
Bahrain also activated its air sirens on Saturday, warning residents to shelter after it detected possible incoming drones or missiles, while Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency said that the kingdom’s air defence systems had downed Iranian missiles
The Iranian attacks on US allies in the region came in response to US attacks on civilian infrastructure including bridges and power facilities
The secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council condemned Iran’s attacks on Kuwait, saying strikes on civilian infrastructure amounted to “war crimes”
“Iran’s actions constitute a highly dangerous escalation, a grave violation of international law and the United Nations (UN) Charter, as well as war crimes requiring international accountability and prosecution, given the deliberate targeting of infrastructure and civilian facilities,” Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi said in a statement
Reports also indicate Iran targeted an oil facility in Kuwait, resulting in a number of injuries and “significant material losses”, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation told reporters
“The repeated targeting of these vital facilities reveals a systematic hostile approach targeting civilian sites and vital infrastructure that endangers the lives and safety of civilians,” the foreign ministry of Kuwait said
Late on Friday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said two oil tankers directed by “deceptive American intelligence agencies” had exploded after hitting mines in the strait of Hormuz. The US military said that claim was false
The IRGC also said on state television they had “stopped” four ships trying to transit the critical waterway, and had destroyed at least two US fighter aircraft and three other aircraft during a missile and drone attack early on Saturday on a US base in Azraq, Jordan
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A US military support centre at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait was hit and a US radar facility at Ali Al Salem airbase in the country was destroyed, the IRGC said
The IRGC also targeted a site in Bahrain where US combat aircraft were gathered at Sheikh Isa airbase and an intelligence datacentre, Iranian state media reported
US Central Command said that its strikes, which began at 7pm on Friday, were designed to “continue degrading Iranian military capabilities”
The US managed to hit Iranian “surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities” overnight, US military said on Saturday morning
Iranian media reported explosions heard or strikes carried out in the cities of Sirik, Ahvaz and Yazd
US strikes have killed 50 people and wounded more than 500 since hostilities resumed, according to Iran’s health ministry. The country acknowledged there had been successful US “attacks on power infrastructure” for the first time on Friday when the Iranian energy ministry issued a call for people to use less power in southern provinces “experiencing extreme heat”. The ministry did not specify what was hit
Maj Gen Mohsen Rezaee, a senior military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, said Tehran will resume “full-scale offensive operations” if US strikes against it continue for another two or three days
“Iran will no longer limit itself to retaliatory, like-for-like responses … and no political border will be safe,” Rezaei said, according to the Iranian news agency IRIB
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