Key facts
- Iran conducted strikes across the Persian Gulf region on Sunday, targeting U.S. allies.
- U.S. forces bombed Iran for the eighth consecutive night.
- The interim peace deal between the U.S. and Iran has collapsed.
- U.S. strikes targeted Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps forces in retaliation for an attack in Jordan that killed two U.S. service members.
- Iranian strikes hit a Kuwaiti power and water desalination plant.
- Iranian authorities reported 50 deaths and 517 injuries from the latest U.S. strikes.
Tensions escalated between the U.S. and Iran as both nations engaged in retaliatory strikes across the Persian Gulf region. On Sunday, Iran launched attacks on U.S. allies, while U.S. forces conducted their eighth consecutive night of bombings against Iran. This exchange has effectively ended the interim peace deal agreed upon last month, which was intended to pause hostilities and facilitate the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. Central Command announced that its strikes were aimed at punishing Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for a Friday attack in Jordan that resulted in the deaths of two American service members. The U.S. also stated its objective was to degrade Iran's capacity to threaten shipping in the vital Strait of Hormuz. The targeted Iranian sites included coastal surveillance and air defense installations, maritime capabilities, and missile and drone storage facilities.
Iran's joint military command responded by vowing a "devastating response" to what it termed U.S. "covetousness, bullying, totalitarianism or brutality." The Iranian strikes impacted a Kuwaiti power and water desalination plant for the second time in two days, causing a fire in a country heavily reliant on desalination for its drinking water. Bahrain reported intercepting attacks, and Jordan confirmed shooting down three out of four Iranian missiles directed at its territory. Israel issued a warning that projectiles aimed at the port city of Aqaba could potentially affect its territory.
Despite the ongoing conflict, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright asserted that oil continues to flow through the Hormuz channel, with traffic at nearly 14 million barrels per day, approximately two-thirds of pre-conflict levels. He suggested that much of the publicly available data on the situation is inaccurate. Iran's atomic energy agency reported that U.S. strikes had hit the unfinished Darkhovin nuclear power plant in Khuzestan province. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed it is investigating the site, noting that it is in early construction and contains no nuclear material, thus posing no radiological risk. Iranian authorities reported that the recent U.S. strikes resulted in 50 fatalities and 517 injuries.
Adding to the diplomatic fallout, Iran's supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, declared on Saturday that U.S. President Donald Trump's endorsement of the interim deal was "utterly worthless and devoid of credibility." When questioned about Iran's withdrawal from the agreement, Trump told NewsNation, "I couldn't care less."