US Strikes Iran Again After Jordan Troop Killings
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- US Central Command struck Iran's Revolutionary Guard coastal surveillance, air defence, maritime capabilities, and missile and drone storage sites on Sunday, with US-released footage showing Tomahawk cruise missile and fighter jet strikes in a mountain valley where the Guard keeps missile bases.
- Iran's atomic energy agency said US strikes hit the construction site of the planned Darkhovin nuclear power plant in the south-west; the IAEA said the site was in "very early stages" of construction and held no nuclear material when the watchdog last visited (satellite imagery from Planet Labs dated July 9 showed land clearing but little construction).
- Strait of Hormuz shipping has nearly halted — just 8 transits on Saturday and 3 on Friday, against a pre-war daily average of nearly 140 — while a US Navy-overseen maritime body warned of "severe" threats to mariners with deliberate hostile action "highly likely."
- US naval blockade of Iranian ports, reimposed last week, has redirected five ships and disabled one since operations resumed on Saturday.
- Iran fired missiles at Jordan's port city of Aqaba; Israel launched two interceptors from the outskirts of Eilat over spillover risk, Jordan's military said it shot down several missiles with no casualties, and Jordan summoned Iran's chargé d'affaires in protest.
- Casualty toll since the war began has reached 16 US service members killed and more than 430 wounded; Iranian authorities said at least 50 people were killed and 517 wounded in the latest US strikes alone.
- Iran suspended its commitments under the interim peace deal and accused the US of violating it, with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei warning of "unforgettable lessons" if strikes continued — more than halfway through the 60-day negotiation window, the fighting has resumed.
Why it matters: Hormuz shipping has collapsed from nearly 140 daily transits to single digits, and Iran is now striking US-allied Jordan and Kuwait's civilian water infrastructure, drawing Israel into potential spillover as 16 US service members have died and the interim deal has unraveled. A strait carrying one-fifth of global oil is effectively choked, with no diplomatic off-ramp currently in place.
