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US Bombing of Iran Expands 07/20 06:25
The United States conducted a new round of airstrikes early Monday targeting
Iran after announcing the death of another American service member, hitting
around a northwestern city believed to be home to underground missile bases.
Iran responded by launching an attack targeting Bahrain, the home of the U.S.
Navy's 5th Fleet, and Kuwait.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- The United States conducted a new round
of airstrikes early Monday targeting Iran after announcing the death of another
American service member, hitting around a northwestern city believed to be home
to underground missile bases. Iran responded by launching an attack targeting
Bahrain, the home of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, and Kuwait.
The latest attacks again showed how, step by step, the U.S. and Iran have
inched closer to all-out war as last month's interim deal meant to permanently
end the fighting has crumbled and shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has
largely stalled. Both sides have targeted civilian infrastructure relied on by
millions of people.
Meanwhile, benchmark Brent crude rose Monday above $90 a barrel, further
fueling a global energy crisis sparked by the conflict. An average gallon of
regular gasoline in the U.S. also rose to $4, a key metric for Americans that
puts more pressure on their wallets ahead of midterm elections this fall.
The U.S. military said the service member was killed in Iraq on Saturday
during the "controlled detonation" of a downed Iranian drone.
"We hit them very hard again tonight," U.S. President Donald Trump said.
"And we did that in honor of the" soldiers killed, he said.
US launches ninth night of Iran strikes
The U.S. military's Central Command announced a new round of strikes early
Monday, now into their ninth straight night. Central Command said it targeted
"Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites,
maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and communications
networks."
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported that the American strikes killed
at least one person around Tabriz, a northwestern city about 520 kilometers
(325 miles) from the capital, Tehran. Tabriz is believed to host underground
missile bases run by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
U.S. strikes likely also hit Bandar Imam Khomeini in Khuzestan province,
Sirik and Jask in Hormozgan province and Konarak and Chahbahar in Sistan and
Baluchistan province, IRNA reported.
As the strikes began, a vessel caught fire early Monday in the Strait of
Hormuz after being hit by a projectile near the coastline of Oman, the British
military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. The crew
abandoned the vessel, which was adrift and still ablaze hours later, the UKMTO
said.
The route around Oman has been the one the U.S. military has encouraged
ships to travel to avoid Iran's control. The Guard later claimed it was
targeting tankers in the strait.
Tehran has retaliated by hitting U.S.-allied countries throughout the Middle
East. Bahrain sounded its missile alert sirens Monday morning, while Kuwait
said its air defense were firing at an incoming Iranian barrage.
The Strait of Hormuz remains key to the conflict
Trump has threatened to target Iran's power stations and bridges to try to
compel Tehran to loosen its hold on the Strait of Hormuz, which saw one-fifth
of traded global oil supplies transit before the war. Recent attacks suggest
the U.S. military is carrying out that plan.
The U.S. in the past week reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports to
halt its shipments of crude oil. The military on Saturday said it had
redirected six ships and disabled one since then.
The halfway point has passed in the 60 days the deal set out to negotiate
the permanent end of the war and other issues, including Iran's nuclear program.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that the U.S. is still
open to negotiating with Iran but that "it has to be real."
"We're going to continue to respond. If the door opens to diplomacy -- if
the guys that want to do something productive for Iran win and take control of
that system, or take control of the negotiations -- that'll be a very positive
development," Rubio said. "That's not where we are tonight, unfortunately."
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei hours later
acknowledged that "proposals conveyed through mediators have been communicated
to us," but he declined to elaborate on their substance.
Mohammad Javad Zarif, a former Iranian foreign minister who helped elect the
country's reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, acknowledged in an essay
published Monday by Foreign Policy that the interim "deal could never survive
such dissonance" over the Strait of Hormuz.
"As the current conflict makes clear, Washington cannot eliminate the
Iranian government," Zarif wrote. "Only diplomacy, a new peace agreement, and a
new security framework produced by regional states and for regional states will
allow the United States to turn its attention elsewhere."
However, Zarif did warn the country's theocracy that "if Iran repeatedly
threatens maritime traffic, it could turn much of the world against it."
Iranian authorities on Sunday said at least 50 people have been killed and
517 wounded in the latest rounds of U.S. strikes. Since the war began on Feb.
28, 17 U.S. service members have been killed.
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