One person was killed and four others were injured in strikes by the United States’ military in Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province on Monday, reported the Anadolu Agency.
The strikes hit an agricultural water pumping station, killing its security guard, Khuzestan Deputy Governor Valiollah Hayati was quoted as saying.
On Sunday, an employee of a telecommunications company was killed and two others were injured in US attacks on the southern province of Hormozgan, AFP quoted Iranian state media as reporting.
Overnight strikes had also killed an Iranian Navy lieutenant in the port of Jask in southern Iran.
The latest attacks came after tensions between the US and Iran, which had eased following an interim ceasefire last month, flared up again on Wednesday. Washington initiated strikes on Iran in response to Tehran’s alleged attacks a day earlier on three liquefied natural gas and crude oil tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
On June 15, the US and Iran arrived at an interim agreement to stop the fighting and reopen the strait for commercial vessels. They also held talks in Switzerland aimed at reaching a final peace deal within two months.
However, on Thursday, the US military launched fresh attacks on Iran hours after President Donald Trump said that the ceasefire was “over”. Iran retaliated by striking sites in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar.
Tehran said on Sunday that “the Strait of Hormuz will be closed until further notice and until the end of American interventions in this region”.
However, the US Central Command countered this by saying that the strait was “open to all vessels seeking to lawfully transit”.
In a social media post on Monday, the Central Command stated that it had completed a new wave of offensive strikes against Iran, “hitting dozens of targets at multiple locations with precision munitions to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking international shipping flowing through the Strait of Hormuz”.
“The Strait of Hormuz is a vital maritime corridor for global trade,” it added. “Iran does not control it.”
On the other hand, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had struck US military bases in Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman on Monday, reported AFP.
Among the targets were the Prince Hassan Air Base in Jordan, a US military drone command centre and other facilities on the southern edge of Manama in Bahrain, the Ali Al Salem airbase in Kuwait and radar systems in Oman, the news agency quoted local media as reporting.
Soon after, Kuwait’s armed forces stated they intercepted “hostile aerial targets”.
The military in Jordan said it had shot down four Iranian missiles over the country. No injuries or damage to property were reported.
Oil prices jump
In the wake of the fresh tensions, prices of the benchmark Brent crude jumped by over 4% on Monday. It was trading at $79.11 a barrel at 9.45 am.
The price had climbed as high as $114 per barrel on May 4 amid the war in West Asia. The price of Brent crude was $78 per barrel on February 27, a day before the conflict started, and had fallen to its pre-war level after the interim peace deal between Iran and the US was announced.
Edited by Sara Varghese.
You’ve read Scroll.
Now help sustain it
Scroll is funded by readers, not corporate owners. If you believe our work matters, support our newsroom. Become a member today!
We’re not driven by clicks or corporate interests – just honest, independent reporting. Keep us going. Support Scroll today!