US forces bombed Iran’s south and west after President Donald Trump said Tehran would pay dearly for the deaths of American soldiers, while Iran targeted Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan yesterday and a tanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz.
US Central Command said it had hit Iranian military command centres, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and air defence systems in its latest round of strikes.
US President Donald Trump threatened to attack Houthis over their threat to blockade shipping in the Red Sea.
Explosions were heard around the city of Shiraz in southern Iran, state media said. Konarak and Chabahar on the southern coast, the city of Khorramabad and a civilian site outside the city of Abdanan, both in the west, all came under attack, media reports said. Later the IRNA news agency quoted an official in Khorramabad as saying no enemy attack had taken place there.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham approved the use of British military bases by the US for what the UK calls defensive strikes against Iran, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
Fifty civilians have been killed and 500 wounded in the recent US strikes on Iran, a health ministry official said.
As hostilities spread across the region, the US State Department issued a new ‘worldwide caution’ for Americans due to ‘heightened tensions’ in the Middle East”.
Iran launched renewed attacks across the Gulf, where recent strikes on desalination facilities have raised concerns about water shortages.
Attacks on Kuwaiti power generation and water desalination plants on Monday caused several generation units to be taken out of service as a precautionary measure and repairs were underway, authorities said.
The Iranian army said it launched drone attacks on Kuwait yesterday. The Guards said they attacked Jordan, while Jordan said its forces intercepted and destroyed five Iranian drones.
The maritime security agency UKMTO said yesterday a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz reported being struck by a projectile, forcing its crew to abandon the vessel and board a lifeboat.
Also yesterday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said two oil tankers had caught fire after explosions while attempting to transit the southern route of the strait.
Just four commodity vessels crossed the strait on Monday, mostly using the northern shipping lane near Iran’s coast, down from seven the previous day, Kpler data showed.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran had received a proposal from mediators for a 10-day ceasefire in efforts to salvage the interim deal, intended to pave the way to a lasting agreement to end the war that began on February 28 with US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
Israel has not joined the latest round of strikes on Iran. “We have no desire to insert ourselves into this but we are prepared for any scenario,” Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said yesterday.
Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni had asked Pakistan to resume its mediation role in the conflict. He later arrived in Islamabad for further talks. The latest phase of fighting has proved to be among the deadliest of the conflict for US forces.
US troop deaths rose to 17 over the weekend. Trump, under mounting pressure at home over rising gasoline prices since the war began, said the latest US strikes on Iran were avenging the deaths of American service members.
The General Command of the Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) confirmed that all its services and units remain at the highest levels of readiness and full defensive preparedness to protect the kingdom.
Bahrain strongly condemned the terrorist threats issued by Houthis, including its allegations, incitement and irresponsible escalation, describing them as a serious threat to regional security and stability, as well as to maritime navigation, international trade and innocent civilians, it’s Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry added that said such actions constitute a flagrant violation of international law, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions.
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