US launches strikes to 'punish' Iran after troops killed

The United States and Iran traded missiles and airstrikes on Sunday as Washington sought to "punish" Tehran for the US military's first losses since open hostilities in the Middle East war resumed.

A preliminary deal aimed at ending the war has collapsed as the foes fight to break a deadlock over the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway key to the world's oil supply.

Iran said it targeted two US bases in Kuwait in response to more than a week of intensifying attacks, which Tehran says have hit transport and infrastructure sites, including an under-construction nuclear power plant.

Jordan also reported intercepting missiles, a day after the US military said two service members were killed there Friday as they "defended against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks". US Central Command said another was still missing in action.

The US military said it carried out an eighth consecutive night of strikes against Iran to "swiftly punish Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces who launched attacks against American service members", Central Command said.

Friday's deaths brought to 16 the confirmed number of American military fatalities since the US and Israel launched the war with a wave of strikes on Iranian targets on February 28.

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said the United States had attacked the unfinished Darkhovin nuclear power plant in the country's southwest, calling it "an aggressive and brutal act contrary to international law".

The UN's nuclear watchdog said it was looking into the report, noting the plant "contained no nuclear material when last visited by the IAEA".

Nonetheless, IAEA director Rafael Grossi reiterated his "call for military restraint in the vicinity of all nuclear-related sites", the agency said in a post on X.

- 'Treacherous' attacks -

After air raid sirens sounded in Jordan, Israel's military said its forces along with Jordan's had intercepted an Iranian missile heading towards the Jordanian port city of Aqaba -- just across the border from Israel's resort town of Eilat.

Iran did not immediately claim the attack, but the US embassy in Amman had earlier warned its citizens of a "specific and credible threat" targeting Aqaba's port and airport.

"If Iran fires missiles at Israel, we will attack them with full force," Defence Minister Israel Katz said, adding it was "prepared for both defensive and offensive" action against Tehran if need be.

Jordan later said it had summoned Iran's charge d'affaires to strongly protest the "continuation of brutal and unjustified Iranian acts of aggression targeting the Kingdom's territory".

In the Gulf, which has borne the brunt of Iran's retaliatory attacks, Kuwait's electricity ministry said a power and water plant was attacked for a second consecutive day, causing a fire.

Bahrain's military also said its air defences "confronted, intercepted, and destroyed a number of treacherous Iranian aerial attacks", accusing Iran of targeting civilians.

- American 'mischief' -

The renewed violence was initially sparked by Iranian attacks on ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Iran closed the conduit for oil and gas shipments after the war broke out, and control over it has become leverage in its negotiations with Washington, which has reimposed its own blockade on Iranian ports.

On Sunday, the Revolutionary Guards said two ships attempting to transit the strait were stopped.

"Four violating ships, with the mischief and support of American terrorists... intended to disrupt and exit the Strait of Hormuz via an unsafe route, two of which had an accident and were stopped in place," the Guards said, adding that the other two ships abandoned their journey.

Iran's health ministry said Friday that 50 people had been killed in the recent fighting and more than 500 hurt.

Hope for a political settlement to the war has dimmed, though mediators have attempted to bring both sides back to the negotiating table.

Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who took over from his father after he was killed in the opening salvo of US-Israeli strikes, vowed to teach the Americans "unforgettable lessons" in a statement Saturday.

Major General Mohsen Rezaei, a senior military adviser to Khamenei, warned that Tehran would resume "full-scale offensive operations" if US strikes continued.

And Iran's central military commander, Ali Abdollahi, warned that further US aggression would face a "decisive and devastating response", according to a statement carried by state television on Sunday.

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