DUBAI: Iran and the United States exchanged fresh attacks early Monday as their conflict entered a ninth day, with Washington saying it had launched a new wave of strikes inside Iran while Tehran claimed to have hit US assets in Syria and Jordan.
US President Donald Trump said the United States had “hit them very hard again tonight,” referring to the 17 American soldiers killed since Israel and the United States launched attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.
The latest escalation sent oil prices above $90 a barrel as the British military reported that a ship was on fire south of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global energy route.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had launched a “surprise attack” on a US special operations command center in Syria’s Al-Tanf region, describing the strike as retaliation for the deaths of Iranian soldiers from Iranshahr in southeastern Iran.
The US military did not immediately comment on the claim.
The Al-Tanf garrison lies near Syria’s borders with Iraq and Jordan in a strategically sensitive area where US forces and partner groups have operated during the campaign against Daesh. The base has also been used by US and coalition troops to train Syrian forces in patrols and counterinsurgency operations.
The IRGC also claimed to have targeted US military aircraft at Jordan’s Aqaba airport, causing “severe damage” to several of them.
American heavy transport and command-and-control aircraft were targeted with ballistic missiles, the Guards said in a statement carried by Iranian state media.
Jordan’s military said it had intercepted several Iranian missiles. The attacks caused no casualties or damage, it said.
The escalating conflict also sent air raid sirens blaring twice early Monday across Bahrain, which hosts the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.
“Citizens and residents are urged to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place,” Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said..
The US Embassy in Manama warned that it had information suggesting Iran might target unspecified locations in central Manama, urging Americans to remain vigilant and follow local authorities’ instructions.
Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait have repeatedly activated air defenses against Iranian missiles and drones since hostilities resumed this month, despite a short-lived ceasefire and a memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran.
IRGC said on Monday they hit US military targets in Kuwait, including an early-warning radar system that was “completely destroyed,” in a statement reported by state news agency IRNA.
Iranian forces “completely destroyed a US early-warning radar system in a drone strike. In a separate attack, they struck an equipment and aircraft parts warehouse and an MQ-9 drone hangar at Ali Al-Salem Air Base, setting several drones on fire,” the Guards said in the statement.
Kuwait said Sunday that one of its power and water desalination plants had been attacked for the second time in two days, causing fires. The Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy said the power grid remained stable.
About 90 percent of Kuwait’s drinking water comes from desalination.
US launches ninth consecutive night of strikes
The US military’s Central Command said its forces had begun a new wave of strikes against Iran at 7 p.m. Eastern Time Sunday, or 2 a.m. Saudi time Monday, for the ninth consecutive night.
The strikes would continue to degrade Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz, CENTCOM said.
The command later said the ninth evening of strikes had been completed at 5 a.m. Saudi time, targeting Iranian military command centers, air-defense and coastal-surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and communications networks.
The renewed exchanges of fire have seen US strikes hit bridges and electrical facilities in Iran.
Iranian state media reported explosions in southern and northwestern parts of the country but gave no immediate details of casualties or damage.
As the US strikes began, a ship caught fire early Monday in the Strait of Hormuz near Oman’s coastline, the British military said. The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.
Oman has been a route encouraged by the US military for vessels seeking to avoid areas under Iranian control in the strait. The IRGC later said it had targeted tankers in the waterway.
Iran says nuclear construction site hit
Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said US strikes hit the construction site of a planned nuclear power plant in the southwest, state television reported.
Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC showed earth clearing but little construction at the Darkhovin nuclear plant site as of July 9. Iran had not previously said the site had been targeted.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said the site was in the “very early stages of construction” and contained no nuclear material when the UN watchdog last visited.
Footage released by the US military appeared to show fighter jets and Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from the sea striking targets in Iran. One target appeared to be in a mountainous valley, where the IRGC frequently places missile bases and other military equipment.
Israel warns of spillover
Israel warned Sunday that Iranian missiles launched toward Jordan could cause fires to spill over into Israeli territory for the first time in weeks.
Jordan later summoned Iran’s chargé d’affaires to protest the attacks, state-run television reported.
In the southern Israeli city of Eilat, which lies next to Jordan’s Aqaba, two interceptors were launched from the city’s outskirts to prevent debris from falling, according to security officials cited by local media.
Iran has increasingly focused its attacks during the latest fighting on US-allied Arab states, rather than Israel, which launched the war with the United States on Feb. 28.
“We are prepared to immediately resume combat,” Israeli military chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said Sunday.
