US Hits Iran for 8th Night After 2 Troops Killed
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- US forces carried out an eighth consecutive night of airstrikes on Iran on Sunday, targeting IRGC units responsible for killing two American service members in Jordan, according to US Central Command.
- Iran retaliated by launching drones at two US bases in Kuwait, hitting an ammunition depot at Camp Udairi and Patriot radar and air surveillance systems at Ali Al Salem Air Base.
- US military fatalities have reached 16 since the war began on February 28, with two service members killed Friday defending against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks in Jordan and one still listed as missing in action.
- US forces struck Iran's under-construction Darkhovin nuclear power plant in the southwest, according to Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, which called the attack "aggressive and brutal" and contrary to international law.
- Iran's Revolutionary Guards stopped two ships attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz, while the US reimposed its own blockade of Iranian ports on Tuesday as both sides use control of the key oil waterway as leverage.
- Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who took over after his father was killed in the opening US-Israeli strikes, vowed to teach Americans an "unforgettable lesson," and a senior military adviser warned of "full-scale offensive operations" if US strikes continue.
Why it matters: The war's expansion into civilian and nuclear infrastructure — including Kuwait's water and power plant and Iran's Darkhovin nuclear facility — marks a major escalation beyond purely military targets. Iran's continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz combined with the US naval blockade creates a bilateral chokehold on a waterway the source calls "key to the world's oil supply," while 16 confirmed US military deaths and 50 Iranian civilian deaths underscore the mounting human cost of the collapse of an interim peace deal.
