Trump launches retaliatory strikes after Iran kills two US troops in Jordan

Washington: The United States launched a fresh wave of strikes against Iran after two American troops were killed by an Iranian attack on an air base in Jordan, representing another escalation in a war that is again engulfing the Middle East.

The strikes began at 8am on Sunday (AEST) at President Donald Trump’s direction, Central Command (Centcom) said. They were designed to “swiftly punish” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for its attack, as well as to continue degrading Iran’s ability to threaten shipping.

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Multiple explosions were heard near Bandar Abbas, Iran’s main port city on the Strait of Hormuz, and the nearby island of Qeshm, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

They were the eighth consecutive night of US strikes, and lasted more than five hours. Strikes hit Iran’s military coastal surveillance and air defence facilities, maritime capabilities and missile and drone storage sites, Centcom said, while also targeting IRGC forces responsible for the attack in Jordan.

Meanwhile, the US State Department issued a worldwide travel caution, advising Americans – especially those in the Middle East – of possible flight cancellations and airspace closures, and targeted attacks on US interests by Iran and its supporters.

The two troops were killed in Jordan on Friday as the US and its partner forces defended against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks. Another service member is missing, while four others were medically evacuated to Jordanian hospitals and later discharged.

The dead were not publicly identified. Since the war began at the end of February, 16 American service members have been killed and more than 430 wounded.

Trump told News Nation the deaths were “very sad” but came in service to their country. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X: “Godspeed, heroes. Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve.”

A ceasefire was declared in mid-June when the US and Iran signed a memo that began a 60-day peace negotiation process. But after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired at ships in the Strait of Hormuz nearly a fortnight ago, the fighting has resumed, and the talks have collapsed.

US forces have also recommenced a blockade of ships accessing Iranian ports. And Trump has weighed escalating the conflict, publicly stating that he was considering attacks on Pickaxe Mountain, a key Iranian nuclear site, or a US takeover of Kharg Island, a major oil terminal.

On Sunday (AEST) Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued a fresh statement condemning the US and declaring that the large crowds who turned out for his father’s funeral showed “a new chapter of awakening and active engagement” was underway in Iran and Iraq.

Khamenei has not been seen since the war began, but his remarks were read out on state TV and posted in English on his social media account.

“The repeated breaches of the agreement by the Great Satan [the US] regarding the MOU signed by the Presidents of Iran and the US have once again laid bare a fundamental truth: the signature of the US President is utterly worthless and devoid of credibility,” Khamenei said.

“Now that the American enemy is seeking to escalate the conflict, thereby incurring even heavier costs and further humiliation, it should know that the noble nation of Iran and the Resistance Front have unforgettable lessons in store for it.”

The comments came hours after a negotiator said Tehran was suspending its commitments to the interim deal signed last month.

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, told state TV that the US has violated its commitments under the deal that was signed about a month ago and now Iran is “no longer implementing them”. Trump has also declared the ceasefire agreement “over”.

Video circulating online purported to show an Iranian missile striking Jordan’s Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, where US forces have based warplanes used in its attacks against Iran. The same base was attacked earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing US officials.

Significant damage from the latest Iranian strikes also occurred in Kuwait, where a water desalination plant and an oil facility were hit, according to the Kuwait authorities and the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation.

The strikes injured several people at the oil facility and caused a fire at the desalination plant, forcing several power generation units offline. It was the second attack against a desalination plant in two days in the tiny desert nation that depends on desalination for 90 per cent of its drinking water.

Meanwhile, Iraq said it shot down attack drones over the city of Irbil. Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency said the kingdom’s air defence systems had downed Iranian missiles, while air sirens sounded multiple times in Bahrain throughout the day and in Saudi Arabia in the morning, according to their governments.

Iran’s renewed attacks on its Gulf neighbours, including domestic infrastructure, is a return to a hallmark of the conflict’s early stages, whereby the Islamic regime targeted America’s partners in the region following US strikes.

Saudi Arabia strongly condemned Iran’s latest attacks as “violations of international law and the principles of good neighbourliness”, offered its full support for any retaliatory efforts by the countries that were hit.

The secretary general of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi, accused Iran of war crimes for strikes on infrastructure and civilian facilities.

Danny Citrinowicz, a senior Iran researcher at the Israel-based Institute for National Security Studies, said events were slipping beyond anyone’s control, and the risk of further escalation now exceeded the prospect of de-escalation.

“There are no effective guardrails, the mediators are losing leverage, one side believes additional pressure will eventually weaken Iran enough to force concessions, while the other increasingly views this as an existential struggle,” he wrote on X.

The expanding scope would likely draw Gulf neighbours more directly into the conflict, putting strategic targets and critical infrastructure at risk, Citrinowicz said.

“Unless something significant changes soon, this conflict is on a trajectory toward a far more dangerous phase, one that may become increasingly difficult for either side to contain.”

With AP