Iran says it has intercepted vessels in the Strait of Hormuz as the confrontation with the United States sharpens around one of the world’s most vital maritime chokepoints for oil shipments.
In a statement, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said “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,” adding that the two other ships turned back and abandoned their journey.
The claim came as the United States said it had just completed an eighth consecutive night of strikes against Iran, after earlier reporting that two US military personnel were killed in Jordan and another was missing following an Iranian assault.
Hostilities have accelerated since an interim ceasefire deal signed a month ago collapsed last week, reviving fears the conflict could slide back into all-out war.
US Central Command said the latest round of airstrikes began at 6pm ET Saturday (11pm Irish time), carried out at President Donald Trump’s direction.
“The strikes are designed to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and swiftly punish Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces who launched attacks against American service members in Jordan last night,” it said.
Central Command later said the operation had concluded, and that the wave of strikes hit Iranian military coastal surveillance and air defence facilities.
Iran’s Mehr news agency reported an attack near Sirik in southern Iran, adding that no casualties or damage to infrastructure have been reported.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said the US is ‘seeking to escalate the conflict’
Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said the United States struck an under-construction nuclear power plant in the country’s southwest.
US forces “in an aggressive and brutal act contrary to international law, attacked the under-construction Darkhovin nuclear power plant… with a number of projectiles on Sunday,” the organisation said in a statement carried by state TV.
The US 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.
Central Command said the two deaths occurred on Friday and that a third US service member was missing in action.
The tally brings the number of US service members killed since the war began to 16, while more than 420 have been wounded.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X: “Godspeed, heroes.
“Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve.”
Iran appeared to broaden its targeting yesterday, striking at Saudi Arabia as well as other US Gulf allies and Jordan, after US attacks on Iranian bridges, power facilities and other infrastructure.
In a written statement carried by the official social media accounts of Iran’s supreme leader and Iranian state media, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said repeated US breaches of the interim deal had shown that Mr 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.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Smoke billows near the oil facility in Mangaf, Kuwait, after an Iranian strike
Mr Khamenei’s whereabouts remain a mystery.
The war, which began when the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran at the end of February in an effort to disable its missile programme and its regional proxies, has already rattled energy supplies, stoked global inflation fears and intensified the fight over who controls access through the Strait of Hormuz.
Kuwait was hit repeatedly yesterday. Its armed forces said they had intercepted Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, and that some firefighters and oil sector workers were injured while responding to the attacks.
Iran’s IRGC said it struck a US 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.
Iranian media said that, beyond Kuwait, the IRGC also targeted a site in Bahrain where US combat aircraft were gathered at Sheikh Isa Air Base and an intelligence data centre.
Iranian state TV also reported that during a missile and drone attack yesterday on the US base in Al Azraq, Jordan, the Revolutionary Guards destroyed at least two US fighter aircraft and three other aircraft.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
Iran’s Health Ministry said 50 people had been killed in US strikesover the past three weeks
Saudi Arabia’s early warning system issued alerts urging residents of Al-Kharj and Yanbu to seek shelter.
Al-Kharj, east of Riyadh, hosts a military base with US troops, while Yanbu on the Red Sea is home to 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 — triggered the alerts.
Saudi state media did not specify what prompted the warnings, and the government media office did not respond to a request for comment.
The IRGC made no mention of any attack on Saudi Arabia.
Earlier, US Central Command said its strikes had hit Iranian surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage and maritime capabilities.
Iranian state TV reported that US airstrikes killed three people and wounded eight others in the southern province of Hormozgan, which borders the Strait of Hormuz, and said two bridges and a road tunnel were damaged.
The semi-official Fars news agency reported additional US airstrikes in the same province, citing provincial authorities.
Iran’s Health Ministry said that US strikes over the past three weeks had killed 50 people and wounded more than 500.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei accused the United States of trying to seize control of the Strait of Hormuz, which typically carries around one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.
Shipping has become a central battleground: the US says it is enforcing a naval blockade, while Iran says it is targeting vessels that violate its navigation rules in the strait.
The European Union and Gulf states called on Iran to immediately and unconditionally halt all attacks and interference with maritime navigation and to keep the strait open without conditions or fees, according to a joint statement reported by Saudi state TV.
