DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States conducted a new round of airstrikes against Iran on Monday after announcing the death of another American service member. Iran responded by launching attacks on American allies Kuwait and Bahrain, home of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.
Even as the U.S. and Iran inch closer to all-out war, glimmers of hope appeared on the diplomatic front, as two regional officials said Iran's interior minister was expected
to arrive late Monday for a two-day visit in Pakistan, a key mediator in the conflict. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
The interim deal signed last month that was meant to end the fighting has crumbled and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — a vital supply route for world energy supplies — has largely stalled. As fighting intensifies, both sides have targeted civilian infrastructure relied on by millions of people.
The escalation has pushed oil prices higher in recent weeks. Benchmark Brent crude traded Monday above $86 a barrel and regular gasoline in the U.S. climbed to an average of $4 a gallon, keeping pressure on Americans' wallets ahead of midterm elections this fall.
The U.S. military said its service member was killed in Iraq on Saturday during the “controlled detonation” of a downed Iranian drone. President Donald Trump said the latest wave of attacks on Iran were done “in honor of” U.S. soldiers recently killed.
The U.S. military’s Central Command said its ninth straight night of airstrikes targeted “Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and communications networks.”
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported that the American strikes killed at least one person around Tabriz, a northwestern city about 520 kilometers (325 miles) from the capital, Tehran. Tabriz is believed to host underground missile bases run by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
U.S. strikes likely also hit Bandar Imam Khomeini in Khuzestan province, Sirik and Jask in Hormozgan province and Konarak and Chahbahar in Sistan and Baluchistan province, IRNA reported.
As the strikes began, a vessel caught fire early Monday in the Strait of Hormuz after being hit by a projectile near the coastline of Oman, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. The crew abandoned the vessel, which was adrift and still ablaze hours later, the UKMTO said.
The route around Oman has been the one the U.S. military has encouraged ships to travel to avoid Iran’s control. The Guard later claimed it was targeting tankers in the strait.
Tehran has retaliated by hitting U.S.-allied countries throughout the Middle East. Bahrain sounded its missile alert sirens Monday morning, while Kuwait said its air defenses were firing at an incoming Iranian barrage.
Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry condemned Iranian drone strikes targeting the country's air traffic systems, saying they endanger travel for civilians.
A new pressure point could emerge for world energy markets as Yemen’s Houthi rebels announced on Monday a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia. The Houthis, who are backed by Iran, said they would block shipping between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in response for an attack on Sanaa International Airport last week that they blamed on Saudi Arabia.
With the Strait of Hormuz blocked up, Saudi Arabia has been relying on a pipeline to the Red Sea to get millions of barrels of oil out to market. The Houthis earlier demonstrated their ability to disrupt shipping there when they targeted ships for months over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, with over 100 vessels attacked.
There was no immediate response from Saudi Arabia.
Trump has threatened to target Iran’s power stations and bridges to try to compel Tehran to loosen its hold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of world oil supplies were shipped before the war. Recent attacks suggest the U.S. military is carrying out that plan.
The U.S. in the past week reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports to halt its shipments of crude oil. The military on Saturday said it had redirected six ships and disabled one since then.
Pakistan has intensified diplomatic efforts in recent days to resuscitate the interim ceasefire reached last month that called for resolving remaining issues tied to the war within 60 days. The truce unraveled after both sides resumed attacks on each other’s military installations and other infrastructure.
Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni is expected to arrive in Pakistan late Monday, according to the two regional officials, though there was no official confirmation from Islamabad or Tehran.
On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that the U.S. is still open to negotiating with Iran but that “it has to be real.”
“We’re going to continue to respond. If the door opens to diplomacy — if the guys that want to do something productive for Iran win and take control of that system, or take control of the negotiations — that’ll be a very positive development,” Rubio said. “That’s not where we are tonight, unfortunately.”
Mohammad Javad Zarif, a former Iranian foreign minister, said in an essay published Monday by Foreign Affairs that the interim deal "could never survive such dissonance” over the Strait of Hormuz.
“As the current conflict makes clear, Washington cannot eliminate the Iranian government,” Zarif wrote. “Only diplomacy, a new peace agreement, and a new security framework produced by regional states and for regional states will allow the United States to turn its attention elsewhere.”
However, Zarif, who helped elect the country’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, also warned the country's theocracy that “if Iran repeatedly threatens maritime traffic, it could turn much of the world against it.”
Iranian authorities on Sunday said at least 50 people have been killed and 517 wounded in the latest rounds of U.S. strikes. Since the war began on Feb. 28, 17 U.S. service members have been killed.
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Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, and Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report.
