By David Ljunggren and Enas Alashray
WASHINGTON/CAIRO, July 18 (Reuters) – The U.S. military said on Saturday two of its personnel were killed in Jordan and another was missing after an Iranian attack, while Iran’s supreme leader said Washington would pay for “seeking to incite war” after a seventh straight night of U.S. strikes.
The U.S. and Iran have intensified attacks since an interim ceasefire deal signed a month ago fell apart last week, raising the possibility of a return to all-out war.
U.S. Central Command said the deaths of the two U.S. personnel occurred on Friday. It said a third U.S. service member was missing in action.
On Saturday Iran, responding to U.S. attacks on bridges, power facilities and other infrastructure, appeared to target Saudi Arabia as well as other U.S. Gulf allies and Jordan.
In a written statement carried by the official social media accounts of Iran’s supreme leader and Iranian state media, Mojtaba Khamenei said repeated U.S. breaches of the interim deal had shown that President Donald Trump’s signature was “utterly worthless and devoid of credibility.”
“Now that the American enemy is seeking to escalate the conflict thereby incurring even heavier costs and further humiliation, it should know that the noble nation of Iran and the Resistance Front have unforgettable lessons in store for it,” the statement said. Khamenei’s whereabouts remain a mystery.
The conflict, which began when the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran at the end of February hoping to disable its missile programme and its regional proxies, has led to major disruption to energy supplies, fears over global inflation and a battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz.
IRANIAN STRIKES REPORTED IN BAHRAIN, JORDAN, SAUDI ARABIA
On Saturday, Kuwait came under sustained attack, with the armed forces saying they had intercepted Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, and that a number of firefighters and oil sector workers had been injured while responding to the attacks.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had struck a U.S. military support centre at Kuwait’s Camp Arifjan and destroyed a radar facility at Ali Al Salem Air Base. Kuwait Petroleum Corporation later said one of its oil facilities had been hit in “repeated Iranian attacks”, causing significant damage and some injuries, according to the state news agency.
As well as hitting Kuwait, the IRGC targeted a site in Bahrain where U.S. combat aircraft were gathered at Sheikh Isa Air Base and an intelligence data centre, Iranian media said.
The Guards also destroyed at least two U.S. fighter aircraft and three other aircraft during a missile and drone attack early on Saturday on the U.S. base in Al Azraq, Jordan, according to Iranian state TV.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
Saudi Arabia’s early warning system issued alerts early on Saturday urging residents of Al-Kharj and Yanbu to seek shelter. Al-Kharj, east of Riyadh, is home to a military base that hosts U.S. troops, while Yanbu, on the Red Sea, has a key oil export terminal.
Two people briefed on the matter said an Iranian missile attack, the first on Saudi Arabia in more than three months, had triggered the alerts. Saudi state media did not say what had prompted the alerts and the government media office did not respond to a request for comment.
The IRGC made no mention of any attack on Saudi Arabia.
BATTLE FOR CONTROL OF THE STRAIT
Earlier, U.S. Central Command said it had completed its seventh consecutive day of strikes by hitting Iranian surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage and maritime capabilities.
U.S. airstrikes early on Saturday killed three people and wounded eight others in the southern Hormozgan province, which borders the Strait of Hormuz, while two bridges and a road tunnel were damaged, Iranian state TV reported.
The U.S. carried out further airstrikes in the same province on Saturday afternoon, the semi-official Fars news agency said, quoting provincial authorities, but there were no reports of civilian casualties.
Iran’s Health Ministry said on Saturday that 50 people had been killed and more than 500 injured in U.S. strikes on the country over the past three weeks.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei accused the United States of seeking control over the Strait of Hormuz, which usually handles around one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.
Both sides have taken aim at shipping traffic, with the U.S. saying it is enforcing a naval blockade and Iran saying it targets vessels violating its rules on navigating the Strait of Hormuz.
A merchant vessel and military forces were involved in an incident off Oman, United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said in a note, without giving further details.
Oil prices rose more than 4% on Friday to their highest level in more than a month, adding to political pressure on Trump as his Republican Party tries to hold on to power in November congressional elections.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Stephen Coates, Gareth Jones and Aidan Lewis; Editing by Sam Holmes, Alison Williams, Ros Russell)
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