US strikes Iran over troop deaths as Israel warns Tehran’s attacks are coming close

The USA has launched more airstrikes at Iran in response to the killing of US troops, as Iran fired missiles toward Jordan that risked widening the conflict into neighbouring Israel.

Step by step, the US and Iran have returned closer to all-out war as last month’s interim deal meant to permanently end the fighting has crumbled and shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has stalled. Both sides have targeted civilian infrastructure relied on by millions of people.

The US military said the latest strikes on Sunday targeted Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard to retaliate for Friday’s killing of troops in Jordan. The campaign, now in its second week, has seen the US target bridges, water desalination plants and electrical facilities in Iran. Tehran has retaliated by hitting US-allied countries throughout the Middle East.

Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain again activated air defences on Sunday as they warned of incoming Iranian drones and missiles. Israel warned that missiles launched toward neighbouring Jordan could cause fire to spill over into Israeli territory for the first time in weeks.

Iran says nuclear site under construction was hit

The US military’s Central Command said it hit “Iranian military coastal surveillance and air defence facilities, maritime capabilities and missile and drone storage sites”.

It said the attack was designed to degrade Iran’s ability to control the strait and “swiftly punish Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces”,  a key power base in Iran’s theocracy that controls its ballistic missile arsenal.

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Trump calls soldier deaths ‘a shame’ as US launches retaliatory strikes against Iran

Footage released by the US military appeared to show strikes carried out by fighter jets and by Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from the sea. One target site appeared to be in a valley of a mountainous region. The Guard often has missile bases and other military equipment tucked into mountain ranges.

Iran’s atomic energy agency said US strikes targeted the construction site of a planned nuclear power plant in the south-west, state television reported.

Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC of the Darkhovin nuclear plant site show earth clearing but little construction as of July 9. Iran had not previously announced it as being targeted.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said the site, in the “very early stages of construction”, contained no nuclear material when the UN watchdog last visited.

Jordan and nearly every Gulf Arab state have been targeted in the latest round of fighting.

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Strait of Hormuz remains key to conflict

US President Donald Trump has threatened to target Iran’s power stations and bridges to try to compel Tehran to loosen its hold on the Strait of Hormuz, which saw one-fifth of global oil supplies transit before the war. Recent attacks suggest the US military is carrying out that plan, beginning with Iranian coastal areas.

The US in the past week reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports to halt its shipments of crude oil. The military on Saturday said it had redirected five ships and disabled one since then.

Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, in a statement on Saturday, warned of “unforgettable lessons” if the US keeps attacking the Islamic Republic. An Iranian negotiator said Tehran was suspending its commitments to the interim deal and accused the US of violating it.

Since the war began, 16 US service members have been killed and more than 430 wounded. Iranian authorities on Sunday said at least 50 people have been killed and 517 wounded in the latest US strikes. Iran has provided no overall information on its material losses.