US President Donald Trump warned Iran on Monday that it would pay “many times over” for every American soldier killed, while Houthi rebels, threatened to broaden the war with a blockade of Saudi ports.
Following the deaths of at least three US soldiers in the past several days, the United States launched a new round of strikes against Iran late Monday, the tenth consecutive night of attacks.
Hours later, the Iranian army said it had targeted US assets in Kuwait, after the Revolutionary Guards earlier claimed to have struck sites in Jordan, Bahrain and Syria.
Jordan’s army said its air defences had downed three Iranian missiles targeting the kingdom, with no injuries or damage reported.
Trump issued his latest warning to Tehran in a post on Truth Social after the confirmed deaths of three more US soldiers brought the total number of American fatalities in the war to 17.
With the breakdown of the US-Iran ceasefire, nearly 100 US servicemembers have been wounded since July 7, the Pentagon said on Monday, most with minor concussions.
“Every time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over!” Trump said. “This directive has been passed on to Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Daniel Caine, and every Leader in the Military.”
US Central Command said American forces launched a new round of strikes on Iran on Monday “designed to further degrade Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.”
Read more: Yemen’s Houthis announce maritime embargo on Saudi Arabia
As Trump ramped up his threats, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the conflict with the United States has entered a new phase.
“The reality is that today the Islamic Republic of Iran is engaged in a full-scale war,” Pezeshkian said.
– Diplomatic exchanges –
In the Strait of Hormuz, meanwhile, sailors abandoned a vessel set on fire in an attack, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency.
The Revolutionary Guards had earlier said two oil tankers trying to transit the strait “exploded and were brought to a halt.”
UKMTO later reported another vessel struck near the strait off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, with the crew reported safe.
And early Tuesday, UKMTO reported yet another tanker had been struck off the coast of Oman by an “unknown projectile.”
Despite the latest fighting, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said diplomatic exchanges with Washington via mediators were ongoing.
“Ideas have been conveyed to us by certain mediators,” Baqaei said.
Iran’s Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni was set to travel to mediator Pakistan’s capital on Monday, a Pakistani interior ministry source told AFP, without confirming the reason.