The United States struck Iranian missile storage sites, drone facilities and air defense systems in a fresh round of airstrikes, following a pledge of “swift punishment” after two American service members were killed.
US officials said the latest barrage ended at 11:30 p.m. ET and was aimed at Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces accused of carrying out Friday’s deadly attack on American assets in Jordan.
A video released by US Central Command, known as CENTCOM, showed American forces firing a large missile from an undisclosed location before the strike hit Iranian coastal surveillance and air defense installations.
“During the eighth consecutive night of US strikes, CENTCOM forces successfully hit Iranian military coastal surveillance and air defense facilities, maritime capabilities, and missile and drone storage sites to continue degrading Iranian military capabilities,” CENTCOM said in a statement.
CENTCOM also underscored the scale of the US military presence in the region, saying more than 50,000 troops are deployed across the Middle East and remain “highly vigilant, focused, lethal, and ready.”
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said Qeshm Island was among the locations hit. The island sits in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil transit route that Tehran has previously threatened to disrupt as leverage. Explosions were also reported in Bandar Abbas, another Iranian city near the Strait, as well as close to Sirik.
At the same time, Tasnim, a news outlet affiliated with the IRGC, claimed Iran had launched retaliatory strikes against US assets in Kuwait in response to the continuing American attacks.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had targeted two US-linked military sites: Camp Buehring and Ali Al Salem Air Base.
The Guards Corps claimed it carried out ‘large-scale attacks with kamikaze drones’ against the bases, according to a statement cited by state media.
Renewed military action in the region has claimed the lives of additional American soldiers.
Iranian strikes hit the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan on Friday. In addition to the two fatalities, one service member is missing in action, and four others were medically evacuated to Jordanian hospitals in the attack. The troops have since been discharged, CENTCOM said in a statement on Saturday.
President Trump told NewsNation that the soldiers’ deaths were a ‘very sad thing.’
‘We hate to see it happen. It’s in service to our country,’ he added, before reiterating his goal of ‘never allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon.’
The deaths were the 15th and 16th among US servicemembers since the war with Iran began in February, with more than 430 others wounded.
Shortly before Friday’s attack on Jordan, Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, said that the US strikes on Iran would lead to ‘unforgettable lessons,’ accusing Trump of ‘seeking to escalate the conflict.’
Khamenei has also called the US’s actions in the region ‘criminal,’ referring to the country as the ‘Great Satan.’
‘The Great Satan – the criminal US – has now realized that the continuation of its trouble-free, domineering presence in the region is nothing but a naive fantasy,’ he wrote on his official X account on Saturday evening.
Hours after the US service members’ deaths were announced, Iranian state media said several IRGC missiles were fired at an unspecified vessel in the Strait of Hormuz.
The attacks come after the US launched a barrage of missiles early on Saturday targeting ‘surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities,’ CENTCOM said.
The strikes hit an electricity plant in Hormozgan and cut off the water supply to around 10,000 on Qeshm Island, while a bridge toward Iran’s main port in Bandar Abbas was disrupted due to bridge damage, according to IRNA.
The attacks have intensified the conflict’s focus on the Strait of Hormuz, an essential waterway bordering Iran that previously carried over a fifth of the world’s crude oil.
The struggle over the Strait has seen energy prices skyrocket worldwide, with the fresh round of strikes now threatening civilian infrastructure in Iran.
‘The US has violated its commitments under the deal that was signed about a month ago and now Iran is ‘no longer implementing them,’ Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, told state TV.
Amid the recent blitz from US forces against Iran, Tehran’s energy ministry ordered citizens to turn off their air conditioning during peak hours as the country’s power grid came under strain.
The energy ministry said that the power restrictions were necessary ‘to help ensure a stable electricity supply in the southern provinces, which are currently facing extreme heat and attacks on electricity supply facilities.’
