The United States carried out an eighth consecutive night of strikes against Iran after announcing that two American military personnel had been killed in an Iranian attack in Jordan, as several US allies across the region reported fresh Iranian missile and drone attacks on Sunday.
US Central Command said the latest operation began at 6 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturday and was intended to weaken Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and punish Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces accused of attacking American personnel.
CENTCOM later said the operation had been completed, with US forces striking Iranian coastal surveillance systems and air defence facilities.
The renewed attacks came as a temporary ceasefire agreement reached a month earlier continued to collapse, raising fears that the confrontation between Washington and Tehran could return to full-scale war.
Israeli officials said preparations were underway to receive additional US aerial refuelling aircraft amid the escalation and the possibility that Washington could expand its military operations against Iran.
The conflict began on February 28, when the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran aimed at damaging its nuclear and missile programmes and weakening Tehran’s regional allies. The fighting has since disrupted energy supplies and increased concerns about rising global inflation.
Iranian media reported US strikes near Sirik in southern Iran and near Shadegan, close to the Iraqi border. Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization also condemned what it described as an American attack on the site of a nuclear power plant under construction in Darkhovin, although it did not specify when the strike occurred.
Iranian state television said Tehran responded by launching drones at US military assets at Kuwait’s Al-Adiri camp and Ali Al Salem Air Base. Both facilities have been targeted during Iranian operations against American forces and regional allies over the past week.
Kuwait’s military said its air defences intercepted additional Iranian missiles and drones on Sunday. The country’s Electricity Ministry said a desalination facility had also been struck for a second consecutive day, causing a fire.
Bahrain’s air defences separately intercepted an Iranian attack, according to state television.
Air raid sirens were also activated in Jordan, while the Israeli military said it had detected Iranian missiles launched towards the Jordanian port city of Aqaba.
The latest escalation has increasingly focused on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial maritime route through which around one-fifth of the world’s oil supply normally passes.
The United States says it is enforcing a naval blockade against Iran, while Tehran has said it will target vessels that violate its navigation rules in the strait.
The IRGC said four vessels attempted to pass through the waterway on Sunday using what it described as an unsafe route and with US support. According to the group, two ships abandoned the attempt after receiving warnings, while two others were involved in an unspecified “accident”.
CENTCOM said the two US service members killed in Jordan died on Friday and that another American remained missing in action.
Their deaths raised the number of US military personnel killed since the conflict began to 16, while more than 420 others have been wounded.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the deaths would strengthen Washington’s determination to continue its operations.
Iran’s Health Ministry said 50 people had been killed and more than 500 wounded in US strikes over the previous three weeks.
Thousands of people have reportedly been killed and millions internally displaced since the conflict began, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, where fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement has resumed.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei accused US President Donald Trump of breaking previous commitments, saying Washington’s actions had demonstrated that the president’s signature carried no credibility.
He also warned that the United States would face heavier costs and further humiliation.
The White House did not immediately comment.
Khamenei has not been seen publicly since before his father and predecessor, Ali Khamenei, was killed in an airstrike on February 28, the first day of the US-Israeli campaign against Iran. His current location remains unknown.