After the death of two American soldiers in Iran’s attack on Jordan base, America has intensified attacks against Tehran. The US military said it carried out new air strikes against Iran to punish Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. US Central Command said that the purpose of these attacks was to further reduce Iran’s ability to stop the movement of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. Before the war, about 20 percent of the world’s oil supply passed through this waterway.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA, citing local officials in South Hormozgan province, said an area near Sirik near the Strait of Hormuz was targeted at 1:30 a.m. local time.
American soldiers killed in direct firing from Iran
The new attacks came as the US military on Friday announced the death toll of its troops following a drone and missile attack on a base in Jordan, the latest death toll from direct fire from Iran since the early days of the war. The identities of the killed soldiers were not revealed and the Central Command did not provide any further information about the deaths. Since the start of the war, 16 American soldiers have been killed and more than 430 have been injured.
News of attacks in Iraq
In neighboring Iraq, a base of the Kurdistan Freedom Party (a group of Kurdish dissidents from Iran) near Erbil was attacked by drones early on Sunday. According to the group’s military officer Rebaz Sharifi, eight members of the organization were injured in the attack. Residents of Irbil, the capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region, also heard explosions from air defense systems early Sunday.
There have been several drone attacks on Erbil in the last four days. The attacks come at a time when new Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi visited Washington last week and tensions are rising between the US and Iran. No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Iran and Iran-backed Iraqi militias have previously carried out attacks in the Kurdish region, where US troops and armed Kurdish-Iranian rebel groups are present.
Warning to teach ‘unforgettable lessons’
Minutes before the US announced the deaths of the soldiers on Saturday, Iran’s supreme leader warned that if the US continues attacks on the Islamic Republic, it will be taught an unforgettable lesson. An Iranian negotiator said Tehran was holding back on its commitments under an interim deal struck about a month ago that was aimed at permanently ending the fighting.
Tehran’s statements have broken another delicate link, as there is no sign of the war ending. Now Khamenei has threatened to teach a lesson not only to Iran, but also to its armed allies in the region – whom he calls the Axis of Resistance. In view of the increasing tension, America has issued an alert for travel across the world.
This fight has centered on control of the Strait of Hormuz. The increasing attacks now threaten civilians and infrastructure, including desalination plants for drinking water, while the global economy is again on alert.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told state TV that the US has violated its commitments under the agreement and now Iran is not implementing them. No new information was received about mediation efforts.
Increasing threat to American soldiers
The previous case of death of a US soldier was that of a helicopter pilot, who crashed in the Arabian Sea earlier this month. At the beginning of the war, six soldiers were killed in an Iranian drone attack on a command center in Kuwait. A soldier was killed after an attack on a base in Saudi Arabia. Six people were killed when a refueling plane crashed in Iraq.
The Iranian attacks on Saturday caused the most damage in Kuwait, where a water desalination plant and an oil facility were targeted, according to Kuwaiti officials and Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. Both refused to give details of the places.
Attack on desalination plant in Kuwait
This was the second attack on a desalination plant in the desert country Kuwait within two days. This country gets 90 percent of its drinking water through desalination. The attacks injured several people at an oil facility and caused a fire at a desalination plant, forcing the shutdown of several power generation units.
According to the Kuwait Fire Force, several firefighters and an employee were injured while battling two other fires caused by the Iranian attacks. Kuwait briefly closed its airspace due to missile threats, and Kuwait Airways said it was rescheduling most flights to and from the capital.
shot down Iranian missiles
Meanwhile, Iraq said it shot down attack drones over the city of Erbil. Jordan’s state news agency Petra said the country’s air defense systems had shot down the Iranian missiles, while air raid sirens sounded several times throughout the day in Bahrain and in Saudi Arabia throughout the morning, according to the governments. Jassem Mohammed al-Budawi, secretary general of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, accused Iran of war crimes for attacking infrastructure and civilian facilities.
Leave a Reply