The United States carried out another wave of airstrikes against Iran on Saturday night, targeting military facilities along the country’s southern coast as tensions between Washington and Tehran continued to escalate following the deaths of two American service members in Jordan.
US Central Command (Centcom) said the operation struck Iranian coastal surveillance systems, air defence sites and other military assets. According to the US military, the attacks were aimed at weakening Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and at retaliating against units of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that Washington says were responsible for Friday’s attack on US forces in Jordan.
Centcom described the latest operation as the eighth consecutive night of US strikes against Iranian targets. Earlier on Saturday, the command confirmed that two American service members were killed while defending against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks in Jordan. A third service member remains missing.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth paid tribute to the fallen troops in a post on X, writing, “Godspeed, heroes. Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve.”
The latest casualties raised the US military death toll in the conflict to 16 after an American Navy pilot who had been missing earlier this month was officially declared dead.
Iranian state media reported that Qeshm Island, located in the Strait of Hormuz, was among the locations struck during the latest US operation.
In response, Iran launched drone attacks targeting two American military facilities in Kuwait, according to the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency. The report said Iranian forces carried out what it described as “large-scale attacks with kamikaze drones” against Camp Udairi and Ali Al Salem Air Base.
The exchange of attacks marks another sharp escalation after a preliminary ceasefire agreed in June collapsed earlier this month. The temporary agreement had been intended to halt fighting and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but hostilities resumed after President Donald Trump declared the arrangement had ended on July 8.
The renewed conflict has also disrupted maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important energy shipping routes, following Washington’s decision to restore its blockade of Iranian ports and Tehran’s declaration that the waterway was closed.
Iran’s Health Ministry said at least 50 people have been killed and more than 500 injured during US strikes over the past three weeks.
Both sides have accused each other of attacking civilian infrastructure. The United States has denied deliberately targeting civilian facilities, maintaining that its operations have focused exclusively on military objectives and logistics infrastructure.
On Saturday, the Gulf Cooperation Council accused Iran of striking civilian facilities after Kuwaiti authorities reported attacks on a power generation plant and a water desalination facility.
Late on Saturday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued a written statement accusing Washington of repeatedly violating the June agreement. He said the latest actions demonstrated that commitments made by the United States could no longer be trusted, signalling that prospects for renewed negotiations remain uncertain as the conflict intensifies.
