The United States carried out an eighth consecutive night of strikes against Iran, targeting military facilities and units it said were responsible for the attack that killed two American service members in Jordan.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Saturday that the operation targeted Iranian military infrastructure as well as Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces "that launched attacks against U.S. service members in Jordan on July 17."
The strikes come as tensions continue to escalate between Washington and Tehran following a series of military exchanges across the region.
Meanwhile, Kuwait said it was responding to a new wave of Iranian missile and drone attacks after the Gulf state was hit by barrages a day earlier that struck a power plant and an oil facility.
"Kuwaiti air defenses are currently confronting hostile missile and drone attacks, following the sinful Iranian aggression," the country's military said in a statement early on Sunday.
The US military on Saturday 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.
On Saturday, Iranian authorities reported at least 50 people have been killed in the country and more than 500 wounded in US strikes in the past three weeks, including eight in a strike on a bridge Friday.
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.
Earlier on Saturday, US Central Command said that its seventh straight night of strikes hit “surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities.”
US airstrikes 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.
