US and Iran exchange strikes after two US deaths in Jordan attack
The US launched new airstrikes against Iranian military targets, and Iran retaliated with drone attacks on US bases in Kuwait, following the killing of two American soldiers in Jordan.
US military officials said Saturday night they carried out fresh airstrikes against Iranian coastal surveillance and air defense facilities. US Central Command (Centcom) reported that the strikes successfully hit Iranian military capabilities, while Iranian state media said Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz was targeted. Centcom also stated that the operations aimed at Iran's Revolutionary Guards, who were responsible for Friday's attack in Jordan that killed two US service members, with another still missing.
In response, Iran's army, according to state media, launched drone attacks on two US bases in Kuwait. The IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency described them as "large-scale attacks with kamikaze drones" against a US military depot at Camp Udairi and Ali Al Salem Air Base.
The US strikes, now on the eighth consecutive night, were intended to "further degrade Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz," Centcom said. The statement added that the attacks were meant to "swiftly punish" the Revolutionary Guard forces who struck American service members in Jordan.
These hostilities come after a week of renewed conflict, with Washington reimposing a blockade of Iranian ports and Tehran declaring the Strait of Hormuz closed, following the collapse of a preliminary ceasefire that lasted less than a month. The US death toll in the conflict has reached 16, after an American Navy pilot missing earlier this month was declared dead.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responded to the soldiers' deaths with a post on X, saying: "Godspeed, heroes. Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve."
