The two servicemen were killed Friday as the US and partner forces defended against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks, according to a statement from the US military.
The US military on Saturday announced two of its troops are dead and one is currently missing after Iranian attacks on a base in Jordan, the first US death due to direct Iranian fire since the opening days of the war.
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The two servicemen were killed Friday as the US and partner forces defended against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks, according to a statement from the US military. Four other service members who were medically evacuated to Jordanian hospitals were later discharged, the US military statement added.
The deaths take the tally of US service members killed in the conflict to 16, with over 430 wounded.
On Saturday, Iranian authorities reported at least 50 people have been killed in the country and more than 500 wounded in US strikes in the past three weeks, including eight in a strike on a bridge Friday.
The latest deaths come as fighting intensifies between both sides over control of the Strait of Hormuz, the essential shipping line where 20 percent of global shipping passes.
Tehran closed the strait to shipping traffic after Washington and Israel launched deadly attacks on Iran, 28 February, sparking the current war.
Since then Iran has maintained that the strait of Hormuz must be under its sole control and that vessels should pay fees to Tehran, even though the world for decades has considered it an international waterway.
The impasse with the Strait has sent the price of oil soaring since the war started and given Tehran significant leverage in negotiations with the US.
Despite an interim ceasefire signed about a month ago, Iranian forces in recent days fired on some ships attempting to cross the strait, a move that has caused crossings in the key shipping passage to fall to a three-week low, according to an international shipping tracker.
US forces have attacked in response with the aim to force Iran to give up its grip on the strait.
Iran warns US of “unforgettable lessons”
On Saturday, Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, warned of “unforgettable lessons” if the United States keeps attacking the Islamic Republic, as reported on State Television.
Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since the war began, in a statement read on state TV, called US President Donald Trump’s signature on the interim ceasefire deal signed about a month ago and aimed at permanently ending the fighting as “worthless and invalid".
His comments came hours after a negotiator said Tehran was suspending its commitments to the agreement.
In the past week, Trump threatened to target power stations and bridges to try to compel Iran to loosen its hold. Washington has also reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports to halt its shipments of crude oil.
Earlier on Saturday, US Central Command said that its seventh straight night of strikes hit “surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities.”
US airstrikes hit an electricity and desalination plant in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, Iranian state TV reported.
The IRNA state media said the Bonji desalination plant was destroyed, cutting off water supplies to about 10,000 people, and that a desalination plant on strategic Qeshm Island inside the strait was damaged.
It reported that three bridges were hit Saturday, including one on a route to Bandar Abbas, Iran’s main port that sits near the narrowest part of the strait.
Kuwait sees most damage from Iranian response
In response to the US strikes, Iranian forces have been attacking US bases in its Gulf-Arab neighbours, with the most significant damage from Iranian strikes on Saturday occurring in Kuwait, forcing the aviation authorities to briefly close its airspace and reschedule most flights to and from the capital.
According to the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, the strikes injured several people at an oil facility and caused a fire at the desalination plant, forcing several power generation units offline. It was the second attack against a desalination plant in two days in the tiny desert nation that depends on desalination for 90% of its drinking water.
According to the Kuwait Fire Force, several firefighters and a worker were injured while battling two other blazes sparked by Iranian strikes.
Meanwhile, Iraq said it shot down attack drones over the city of Irbil. Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency said the kingdom’s air defence systems had downed Iranian missiles, while air sirens sounded multiple times in Bahrain throughout the day and in Saudi Arabia in the morning, according to their governments.