Iran widens attacks across Gulf as U.S. deaths mount

Iran’s forces struck U.S. military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait as the American death toll in the widening conflict climbed to three. Two U.S. servicemen were killed in Jordan in an attack on a base that left one more missing and four hospitalized, and another U.S. service member later died in Iraq during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian drone.

The latest Iranian strikes landed in a region already strained by attacks on shipping. Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, and the country sits only a short distance from the Strait of Hormuz, where tankers and other vessels have been targeted and crew members have abandoned ships. One tanker or vessel was seen on fire in the strait.

The U.S. launched a 10th consecutive night of strikes on Iran. U.S. Central Command said the aim was to further degrade Iran’s ability to attack ships and restrict oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. In one phase of the campaign, U.S. strikes hit more than 140 targets across Iran.

Iranian officials accused the U.S. of hitting civilian infrastructure, including bridges, a train station and an airport. The U.S. denied that account and said it was striking military targets, including military logistics infrastructure. An attack hit a bridge in Hormozgan province, and Iran said its own forces had hit U.S. military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait after the American strikes on Iran’s south.

A Congressional Research Service product on Iran and the strait’s energy impacts puts roughly a fifth of those flows through the Strait of Hormuz in peacetime. Attacks spread across Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and the wider Gulf.