US Announces Another Service Member Death Amid Escalating Strikes Against Iran

The United States announced the death of another service member on Sunday as it launched a new wave of airstrikes against Iran in response to attacks that killed US troops.

The US military said the service member was killed in Iraq on Saturday during the "controlled detonation" of a downed Iranian drone.

The latest strikes were also carried out in retaliation for an Iranian attack on a US base in Jordan that killed two American service members, left one missing and injured four others.

US Central Command said it targeted facilities used by Iran's Revolutionary Guard, including missile and drone storage sites, coastal surveillance systems and air defences. It said the operation was intended to weaken Iran's ability to control the Strait of Hormuz and to punish Revolutionary Guard forces.

Iran said on Sunday at least 50 people were killed and 517 injured in the latest US strikes.

Iranian forces fired missiles towards Jordan. The Jordanian military said it had been able to intercept several Iranian missiles. A key US ally, the country hosts major US bases and relies on American air defence systems.

The US Embassy in Jordan said a "specific and credible threat" had prompted Americans to avoid Aqaba's airport and seaport and follow local security instructions. Jordanian authorities denied reports that the airport and seaport had been evacuated, according to AFP.

Kuwait, Bahrain and other Gulf states activated their air defences.

Israel warned that missiles aimed at the Jordanian port of Aqaba, just over the border from Israel, could stray into their territory, potentially drawing it back into the fighting.

Israel's defence minister Israel Katz said the country would respond powerfully to any attack by Iran, adding Israel was "prepared for both defensive and offensive" action against Tehran.

Tensions continue to escalate between Washington and Tehran following military exchanges across the region.

On Saturday the US military announced two of its troops are dead and one is currently missing after Iranian attacks on a base in Jordan, the first US death due to direct Iranian fire since the opening days of the war.

The two servicemen were killed Friday as the US and partner forces defended against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks, according to a statement from the US military. Four other service members who were medically evacuated to Jordanian hospitals were later discharged, the US military statement added.

The deaths take the tally of US service members killed in the conflict to 16, with over 430 wounded.

The latest deaths come as fighting intensifies between both sides over control of the Strait of Hormuz, the essential shipping line where 20 percent of global shipping passes.

Tehran closed the strait to shipping traffic after Washington and Israel launched deadly attacks on Iran, 28 February, sparking the current war.

Since then Iran has maintained that the strait of Hormuz must be under its sole control and that vessels should pay fees to Tehran, even though the world for decades has considered it an international waterway.

The impasse with the Strait has sent the price of oil soaring since the war started and given Tehran significant leverage in negotiations with the US.

Despite an interim ceasefire signed about a month ago, Iranian forces in recent days fired on some ships attempting to cross the strait, a move that has caused crossings in the key shipping passage to fall to a three-week low, according to an international shipping tracker.

Iran warns US of “unforgettable lessons”

On Saturday, Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, warned of “unforgettable lessons” if the United States keeps attacking the Islamic Republic, as reported on State Television.

Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since the war began, in a statement read on state TV, called US President Donald Trump’s signature on the interim ceasefire deal signed about a month ago and aimed at permanently ending the fighting as “worthless and invalid".

His comments came hours after a negotiator said Tehran was suspending its commitments to the agreement.

In the past week, Trump threatened to target power stations and bridges to try to compel Iran to loosen its hold. Washington has also reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports to halt its shipments of crude oil.

US airstrikes on Saturday hit an electricity and desalination plant in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, Iranian state TV reported.

The IRNA state media said the Bonji desalination plant was destroyed, cutting off water supplies to about 10,000 people, and that a desalination plant on strategic Qeshm Island inside the strait was damaged.

It reported that three bridges were hit Saturday, including one on a route to Bandar Abbas, Iran’s main port that sits near the narrowest part of the strait.