Pres. Donald Trump (Photo: Kent Nishimura/AFP)
The USA’s pres. Donald Trump has warned Iran that it will bear heavy consequences for every American soldier who dies in the Middle Eastern conflict.
The US launched renewed strikes against Iran on Monday after the deaths of at least three US soldiers in the past few days.
According to the Iranian military, it targeted US assets in Kuwait, after the Revolutionary Guard earlier claimed it had attacked sites in Jordan, Bahrain and Syria.
Jordan’s military said its air defenses shot down three Iranian missiles targeting the kingdom, with no injuries or damage reported.
Trump’s latest warning to Iran comes after the deaths of three more American soldiers, bringing the total number of American deaths in the war to 17. Nearly 100 US service members have been wounded since July 7, the Pentagon said Monday.
“Every time Iran kills an American soldier, they will pay for it many times over,” Trump said.
The US Central Command (Centcom) said US forces launched a new round of strikes on Iran on Monday “and aim to further dismantle Iranian military capabilities, which are used to attack commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.”
President Masoud Pezeshkian. (Photo: Iranian Presidency/AFP)
While Trump intensified his threats, the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said the conflict with the US had entered a new phase.
“The reality is that the Islamic Republic of Iran is involved in a full-scale war today,” said Pezeshkian.
Tehran’s Yemeni allies, the Houthi rebels, have meanwhile threatened to expand the war with a blockade of Saudi ports.
The Middle Eastern war has resumed, after a ceasefire in April and a framework agreement in June collapsed.
Despite the latest attacks, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said diplomatic exchanges with Washington via mediators were ongoing.