THE NEW YORK TIMES: US launches strikes in retaliation to death of troops in Jordan

Two US soldiers were killed in an Iranian attack on a base in Jordan on Friday, the US military said, the first US troops to die from hostile fire since Tehran and Washington ended their ceasefire a week ago.

A third service member was missing after the missile attack, according to a statement Saturday from US Central Command, which oversees operations in the region. Four US service members wounded in the attack were taken to Jordanian hospitals and discharged.

The US military retaliated swiftly, beginning a new round of attacks in Iran about 1:30 a.m. local time Sunday, according to Central Command. The new strikes came on top of an already worsening conflict. Both countries have been expanding the scope and intensity of their attacks, striking military sites and infrastructure including a power station and water facilities.

Iranian state media on Saturday reported damage to bridges and roads in the south of Iran, and that a water desalination plant in Jask, a strategic port city, had been hit, citing a local official as saying that about 10,000 people were facing water shortages. The US military did not respond to a request for comment on those reports.

Strikes also damaged a tunnel and three bridges in Hormozgan province, its governor’s office said on Saturday, according to Iran’s state media. The province has been repeatedly hit over the past week, including early Sunday.

In a statement on Saturday before the newest round of strikes, Central Command said that it had hit “surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage and maritime capabilities” using fighter planes, drones and warships.

Iran has responded with its own attacks on US allies in the Persian Gulf, including those that host US forces in the region.

On Saturday, Iranian missiles and drones pummelled Kuwait, where the government said another power and water treatment plant had been attacked, the second in two days, sparking fires. An oil facility was also struck, leading to injuries and “severe material losses,” according to Kuwait’s state-run petroleum corporation.

Air raid sirens also rang out in Bahrain on Saturday, warning of Iranian strikes. And the Jordanian military said it had intercepted 10 Iranian ballistic missiles overnight.

The bombardment has failed to break the deadlock over the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway for global oil and gas shipments that Iran has blockaded. The United States has also reinstated its own blockade on Iranian ports.

Last month, the United States and Iran reached a ceasefire meant to reopen the strait and allow for broader negotiations. Iran, citing a clause in the agreement, has continued to assert control over the waterway, attacking ships attempting to transit through routes outside the country’s territory.

During the ceasefire, oil prices fell to levels not seen since before the war, but since then have begun rising again, as have gasoline prices. The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States on Saturday was $3.99, up 11 cents in the past week and over $1 more than before the war, according to AAA.

President Donald Trump has frequently threatened to bombard Iranian infrastructure, including power plants and bridges, in an apparent effort to force Iran’s leaders to make a deal and end the war. Analysts say there is little guarantee that stepping up attacks would force Iran to change course, and such attacks on critical infrastructure could constitute war crimes under international law.

Iranian state media carried a statement Saturday said to be written by the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. The statement repeated Iran’s criticism of the United States as violating the ceasefire deal, calling Mr Trump’s signature on their memorandum of understanding “worthless and invalid.” Mr Khamenei has not been seen in public since the start of the war, when he was wounded in the US-Israeli attack that killed his father, whom he succeeded as the supreme leader.

The two countries have not escalated to the level of the full-scale war that began in February, with US attacks largely confined to southern Iran. Yet the past week has seen bridges, energy sites and water plants come under attack, and at least 50 people in Iran were killed, the Health Ministry said Saturday. Since the start of the war. about 3,500 Iranians, including civilians and members of the military, have been killed, according to an Iranian government agency.

The death toll among US troops from the war now stands at 16.

The statement announcing the deaths of the two US Army soldiers did not include their names. A US official said the deaths were believed to have been caused by a barrage of Iranian ballistic missiles launched at the base, the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Azraq, Jordan. Several missiles were shot down, but at least one penetrated US and Jordanian air defences, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, having not been authorised to speak publicly about the attack.

It was the fourth in five days on US forces in Jordan, multiple US officials said. Taken together, the attacks have wounded dozens of US service members and damaged a number of helicopters.

Jordan, which hosts major US air bases, grew in importance in the run-up to the war and its early days, as the Pentagon shifted a number of troops from Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to relatively more secure locations in Jordan and Israel. Jordan’s role in US operations has only increased as other US allies in the region have restricted Washington’s ability to base troops in and fly aircraft over their territories, the US officials said.

The State Department issued a worldwide travel warning Saturday, urging Americans to exercise caution while abroad because of the heightened tensions in the Middle East, with the potential for “unforeseen escalation.” The department added that US diplomatic facilities, including some outside the Middle East, had been targeted, and that groups supportive of Iran may target other US interests overseas.

The last time the State Department issued a worldwide travel warning was in March, for similar reasons.

The US strikes early Sunday included a location near Sirik, in Hormozgan province, according to Iran’s official state news agency, IRNA. Sirik, which lies near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz and hosts maritime and military infrastructure, has come under repeated attack.

The US airstrikes over the past week have rattled residents’ nerves and destroyed key transportation links in parts of southern Iran.

Marzieh, a resident of the port city of Bandar Abbas, said that she had heard from friends that the roads around the city had been “devastated.” Marzieh and other Iranians interviewed gave only their first names for fear of government reprisal.

Nightly attacks in Ahvaz have become a familiar pattern, according to Emad, a 34-year-old trader there. “Some people are still frightened by the explosions, especially those living closer to the targeted areas,” he said.

Emad said that as far as he could tell, the strikes had targeted the city’s south-eastern periphery, where there are military bases and installations, rather than its centre,

Elnaz, a 30-year-old resident of Ahvaz, said that Thursday night was the worst since the fighting resumed.

Her friends’ and family’s young children “were especially frightened,” she said. “The blast waves were so close that we thought if we stepped outside, we would find the entire city destroyed.”

Since then, the attacks have not been as severe, Elnaz said, but each night is unpredictable.

“None of us knows what kind of attack will happen once night falls,” she said. “We generally know that the strikes are aimed at military areas, but even bombing those locations is enough for the noise and shock waves to reach us and make our whole bodies shake.”