Iran’s supreme leader has warned the United States it will face “unforgettable lessons,” as Washington confirmed its first military fatalities since restarting hostilities with the Islamic republic.
The escalation comes just a month after the two adversaries signed a preliminary deal meant to end their war — an understanding that has since been abandoned. Tehran said it retaliated for a week of intensifying US attacks by striking infrastructure around the Gulf, saying an airport, a railway station and bridges had been hit.
Kuwaiti authorities said Iran struck an oil facility as well as a power and water plant, while Bahrain’s army reported that its air defences turned back a wave of Iranian attacks.
Tehran also launched new strikes in Jordan. The US military’s Central Command said two service members were killed while they “defended against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks”.
It said another service member remained missing in action.
Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei — who succeeded his father after he was killed in the opening salvo of US-Israeli strikes on 28 February — said the continuing attacks on Iran had “once again demonstrated to everyone the worthlessness of the American president’s signature”.
“Now that the American enemy seeks to incite war and bear its most serious consequences, it should know that the dear Iranian nation and the axis of resistance have unforgettable lessons to offer it,” he added in a statement broadcast on state TV.
Major General Mohsen Rezaei, a senior military adviser to Khamenei, said Tehran would return to “full-scale offensive operations” if US strikes carried on in the coming days.
A satellite image showing smoke near the oil facility
“Iran will no longer limit itself to retaliatory, like-for-like responses,” Mohsen said, according to state media.
Kuwait accused Tehran of aiming at civilian sites and critical infrastructure, as residents described a growing unease that the renewed conflict could stretch on.
“The demand for water and canned goods has increased since this morning amid fears that services or supply chains will be affected,” said Hassan Rayan, a 61-year-old Kuwait resident.
Another resident, Ali Mahmoud, 46, said “the streets and beaches were almost empty, even though it is a holiday”.
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‘War crimes’
The Iranian army said it had targeted an air base used by the United States in Bahrain — another Gulf ally of Washington — according to the state broadcaster.
In Jordan, Iranian state TV reported that fuel tanks at the Al-Azraq base were struck.
A day earlier, the Revolutionary Guards said they had attacked US aircraft stationed in the country using missiles and drones.
The Jordanian army said it intercepted 10 missiles, and at least three the day before.
Prospects for a political settlement have faded, even as mediators have tried to steer both sides back toward negotiations.
US President Donald Trump threatened this week to strike Iranian infrastructure, though Washington has not confirmed since then that US forces have begun such attacks.
Deputy Iranian foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on state TV on Saturday that Washington was “not getting anywhere with these aggressive actions”.
US President Donald Trump has threatened to launch broad-based airstrikes on Iran’s infrastructure
“America has violated and stopped all its commitments under that memorandum of understanding, and we have also stopped all our commitments,” he added.
Compromise as ‘capitulation’
IRNA, Iran’s state news agency, reported on Saturday that US attacks killed three people and wounded eight in the southern province of Hormozgan.In Khuzestan province, the deputy provincial governor said the US had attacked 95 locations in 12 cities over the past 10 days, according to Iran’s Tasnim news agency, with eight people killed.
Iran also said drinking-water supplies to several villages in the south were cut off, accusing the United States of hitting power facilities and desalination plants in the village of Bonji, Tasnim reported.
After strain on the power grid, Iran’s energy ministry urged residents to curb electricity use and switch off air conditioners during peak hours.
The health ministry said 50 people have been killed since the latest fighting began and more than 500 wounded.
David Khalfa, a Middle East specialist at the Paris-based Jean-Jaures Foundation, said the conflict was pulling in a “widening range of strategic infrastructure”.
“The paradox is that, while the conflict continues to escalate, neither side has a strategic interest in allowing this dynamic to continue. Yet both perceive any compromise as a form of capitulation,” Khalfa said.
The latest surge in violence was triggered by Iranian attacks on ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a crucial corridor for Gulf energy exports that Iran seeks to control.
Iran shut the strait after the war began in late February with US-Israeli strikes, and influence over the route has become a bargaining chip in talks with Washington, which recently reimposed its own blockade of Iran’s ports.
