US-Iran conflict widens as Jordan downs missiles and another US soldier dies
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- US Central Command struck Iranian Revolutionary Guard coastal surveillance, air defense, maritime, and missile storage sites as the conflict entered its second week, with US-released footage showing Tomahawk cruise missiles and fighter jet strikes on a mountainous valley the Guard uses for missile bases.
- US military confirmed its 17th service member death since the war began — a soldier killed Saturday in Iraq during the 'controlled detonation' of a downed Iranian drone — with one more troop still missing after Friday's attack and 'unidentified remains' under examination.
- Jordan shot down several Iranian missiles with no casualties or damage, then summoned Iran's chargé d'affaires in protest; Israel warned the missiles aimed at the Jordanian port of Aqaba could spill into its territory for the first time in weeks and launched interceptors near Eilat.
- Iran has redirected attacks from Israel to US-allied Arab states — Kuwait reported a power and desalination plant hit for the second time in two days, and about 90% of Kuwait's drinking water comes from desalination; Kuwait, Jordan, and Bahrain all activated air defenses against incoming Iranian drones and missiles.
- Strait of Hormuz shipping collapsed from a pre-war daily average of nearly 140 daily transits to 8 on Saturday and 3 on Friday, as the US reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports, disabled at least one ship, and a US-Navy-overseen maritime body warned that 'deliberate hostile action' was highly likely.
- US strikes hit the construction site of Iran's planned Darkhovin nuclear power plant in the southwest, per Iran's atomic energy agency — the IAEA said the early-stage site had no nuclear material when last visited, and satellite imagery from Planet Labs PBC showed only earth-clearing work as of July 9.
- Iran suspended its commitments to the interim ceasefire deal, with the source identifying 'Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei' warning of 'unforgettable lessons' if US attacks continued; Israeli military chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said Israel was 'prepared to immediately resume combat.'
Why it matters: Kuwait derives 90% of its drinking water from desalination plants — and Iran has now hit one of those plants twice in two days. With Strait of Hormuz traffic collapsed from ~140 daily transits pre-war to 8 on Saturday and 3 on Friday, the disruption to the one-fifth of global oil that previously moved through the chokepoint is sustained, and the conflict is no longer bilateral but engulfing US-allied Arab states whose civilian infrastructure is now a target.
