- US military reports first deaths since hostilities resumed.
- Iran accuses the US of hitting power and water facilities.
- Tehran says it is no longer limiting retaliatory responses.
Iran’s supreme leader vowed to teach the United States “unforgettable lessons” on Saturday as Washington reported its first military deaths since renewing hostilities with the Islamic republic.
A month after the foes signed a now-abandoned interim deal aimed at ending their war, Tehran hit infrastructure around the Gulf in retaliation for a week of intensifying US strikes that Iran said had hit an airport, a railway station and bridges.
Iran hit an oil facility in Kuwait as well as a power and water plant, authorities in the Gulf state said, while the army in Bahrain said air defenses repulsed a wave of Iranian attacks.
Tehran also launched new strikes in Jordan, where the US military’s Central Command said two service members were killed on Friday as they “defended themselves against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks”. It said another service member was still missing in action.
That brought to 16 the confirmed number of US military deaths since the conflict began on 28 February.
Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who took over from his father after he was killed in the opening US-Israeli strikes, said the ongoing attacks on his country “once again demonstrated to everyone the worthlessness of the US president’s signature”.
“Now that the American enemy seeks to incite war and bear its gravest 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 on state television.
Major General Mohsen Rezaei, a senior military adviser to Khamenei, warned that Tehran would resume “full-scale offensive operations” if the US strikes continue in the coming days.
“Iran will no longer limit itself to retaliatory actions, ‘like-for-like,'” Mohsen said, according to state media.
The latest violence was sparked by Iranian attacks on ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a vital transport route for Gulf energy exports that Tehran seeks to control.
Iran closed the strait after the war broke out, and control of the route has become leverage in negotiations with Washington, which recently reimposed its own blockade of Iran’s ports.
The health ministry said on Friday that 50 people had been killed since the renewed fighting broke out and more than 500 were injured.
Kuwait accused Tehran of attacking civilian areas and vital infrastructure, with residents expressing fears that renewed hostilities could drag on.
“Demand for water and canned goods has increased since this morning due to fears that services or supply chains will be affected,” Kuwait resident Hassan Rayan, 61, said on Saturday.
Fellow resident Ali Mahmoud, 46, noted that “the streets and beaches were almost empty, even though it’s a holiday”.
Iran’s army said it had targeted an air base used by the United States in Bahrain, another US ally in the Gulf, according to state television.
And in Jordan, Iranian state television reported that fuel tanks at the Al-Azraq US base were targeted. The day before, the Revolutionary Guards said they had attacked US aircraft stationed in the country with missiles and drones.
The Jordanian army said it had shot down 10 missiles on Saturday, and at least three the day before.
Hopes for a political solution to the war have fallen by the wayside, although mediators have tried to bring both sides back to the negotiating table.
US President Donald Trump this week threatened to hit Iranian infrastructure, although there has been no confirmation from Washington since then that US forces have begun to do so.
“America has violated and stopped all its obligations under this memorandum of understanding, and we have also stopped all our obligations,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told state television on Saturday.
Iranian state news agency Irna reported on Saturday that US strikes killed three people and wounded eight in the southern province of Hormozgan.
In Khuzestan province, the deputy provincial governor said eight people had been killed in the past 10 days, according to Iran’s Tasnim news agency.
Iran also said the supply of drinking water to several villages in the south had been cut off, and accused the United States of attacking power plants and desalination plants in the village of Bonji, according to Iran. Tasnim.
Iran’s energy ministry urged citizens to reduce electricity consumption and turn off air conditioners during peak hours after the power grid came under pressure.
