Iran strike in Jordan kills two US troops, one missing as tensions spike

An Iranian drone and missile strike on a US base in Jordan killed two American troops and left one missing. The attack intensifies the widening Gulf war and further endangers civilians, oil routes and water infrastructure.Image used for representational purposes onlyThe US military said on Saturday that two American troops were killed and another was missing after an Iranian drone and missile attack on a base in Jordan, marking the first US troop deaths from direct Iranian fire since the opening days of the war. Four other service members were taken to hospital after Friday's attack. Since the war began, 16 US service members have been killed and more than 430 wounded.The announcement came minutes before Iran's supreme leader warned of 'unforgettable lessons' if the US continued attacking the Islamic Republic. The remarks, read out on state television and attributed to Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen since the war began, also called President Donald Trump's signature 'worthless and invalid'. Iran's deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi later said Tehran was suspending its commitments under the interim deal signed about a month ago to permanently end the fighting.The latest statements further weakened efforts to contain a war that still shows no sign of ending. Iran has now warned of reprisals not only from itself but also from its armed proxies in the region, which it described as the Axis of Resistance. The US issued a global travel alert as tensions rose further. The fighting has centred on control of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's crude oil had previously passed, and the widening strikes are now threatening civilians and infrastructure, including desalination plants that supply drinking water. There was no new word on mediation efforts.The US military said the previous recorded death of an American service member was that of a helicopter pilot who crashed in the Arabian Sea earlier this month. Earlier in the war, an Iranian drone strike on a command centre in Kuwait killed six soldiers, one soldier died after an attack on a base in Saudi Arabia, and six were killed when a refuelling aircraft crashed in Iraq. On Saturday, the heaviest damage from Iranian strikes was reported in Kuwait, where authorities and the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said a water desalination plant and an oil facility were hit, though they did not give locations. It was the second attack on a desalination plant in two days in the desert nation, which depends on desalination for 90 per cent of its drinking water. The strikes injured several people at the oil facility and caused a fire at the desalination plant, forcing several power generation units offline. The Kuwait Fire Force said several firefighters and a worker were injured while tackling two other fires caused by Iranian strikes. Kuwait briefly shut its airspace because of missile threats, while Kuwait Airways said it was rescheduling most flights to and from the capital. Iraq said it had shot down attack drones over Irbil, Jordan's state-run Petra news agency said air defence systems had intercepted Iranian missiles, and governments in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia reported air raid sirens during the day.Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi, the secretary general of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, accused Iran of war crimes over strikes on infrastructure and civilian facilities. At the same time, US Central Command said its seventh straight night of attacks had struck surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage and maritime capabilities in Iran. Iranian state television reported that US airstrikes hit an electricity and desalination plant in the southern province of Hormozgan, while state news agency IRNA said the Bonji desalination plant was destroyed, cutting off water supplies to about 10,000 people, and another desalination plant on Qeshm Island in the strait was damaged. IRNA also said overnight strikes damaged two tunnels and a bridge, disrupting a main highway towards Bandar Abbas, Iran's main port near the narrowest part of the strait, and that three bridges were hit on Saturday, including one on a route to the port city. Iran on Friday acknowledged attacks on power infrastructure during US airstrikes for the first time, with its Energy Ministry urging people in southern provinces facing extreme heat to use less electricity. Iranian authorities said at least 50 people had been killed and more than 500 wounded in US strikes over the past three weeks, including eight killed in a bridge strike on Friday. The latest attacks on both sides have deepened the conflict, added to military and civilian casualties, and further raised the risks to vital infrastructure across the region.With PTI Inputs- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Jul 19, 2026 01:46 IST