The United States military launched a new wave of retaliatory airstrikes against Iranian targets late Saturday. The assault follows a fatal drone and ballistic missile attack on a military base in Jordan that killed two American service members. This escalation fractures a tenuous, month-old interim peace deal in the ongoing war between Washington and Tehran, which began in February.
Friday’s strike in Jordan also left one U.S. service member missing. Four others are currently hospitalized. These represent the first American troops to die from hostile fire since an April truce briefly paused the regional bloodshed. President Donald Trump publicly vowed to avenge the deaths. The U.S. Central Command confirmed the retaliatory response began at 6 p.m. ET Saturday.
The diplomatic fallout was immediate. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi announced Tehran is officially suspending all commitments to the interim agreement. In a broadcast attributed to Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, the cleric warned of “unforgettable lessons” if American forces continue their operations. The breakdown of the truce and the sudden violence triggered a U.S. global travel alert for citizens abroad.
Control over the strategic Strait of Hormuz remains the central focus of the escalating conflict. Iranian forces have increasingly targeted regional infrastructure, recently crippling an oil facility and a major water desalination plant in Kuwait. With these latest casualties, the total American military death toll stands at 16, alongside more than 430 wounded service members. Previous fatalities occurred across the region, including six soldiers killed in a drone strike in Kuwait, a Navy pilot lost in the Arabian Sea on July 1, and six personnel killed in a KC-135 refueling aircraft crash in Iraq.