President Donald Trump says Iran was hit “very hard” overnight as the U.S. carried out its ninth straight night of strikes.
Iranian state media reports the new attacks include strikes on the area around the country’s only civilian nuclear plant.
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“A few minutes ago, several locations in Bushehr city were hit by American enemy’s projectiles,” said Bushehr governor Mohammad Mozaffari.
Meanwhile, U.S. Central Command says “the strikes will continue degrading Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”
It comes as the conflict continues to grow after at least three U.S. service members were killed in the Middle East over the weekend.
A deadly weekend
One service member was killed in northern Iraq during the controlled detonation of a downed Iranian drone this weekend.
Meanwhile, U.S. Central Command has also recovered unidentified remains in Jordan, where a separate Iranian attack left two U.S. troops dead and another missing in action.
Trump said the service members gave their lives to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“We hit them very hard again tonight,” Trump said. “And we did that in honor of the probably three — it’s probably three as opposed to two, great patriots.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the troops’ deaths are a reminder of the price of war.
“Obviously, I think sometimes when you look at this stuff, we forget, we take for granted that our military is so effective, the mission they carry out is very, very dangerous,” Rubio said. “Look, our military all over the world, especially in that part of the world, but all over the world every single day, does very dangerous things. We’ve had people who lost their lives in training missions. Nothing the military does is safe. It’s all inherently dangerous. And we’re just grateful to have such heroic Americans in uniform in the service of our country.”
Regional fighting and rising gas prices
The fighting is also spreading across the region. U.S. allies Kuwait and Bahrain reported new Iranian attacks early Monday morning.
Iran’s foreign ministry is also warning the U.S. will “face the consequences” if American forces try to seize Kharg Island after Trump threatened to take control of the key oil export hub.
The escalating conflict is also pushing energy prices higher.
AAA says the national average for a gallon of gas has climbed above $4 for just the second time since the war began.
Oil prices, however, were down Monday after Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said negotiations with the U.S. could be pursued based on national interests.
The drop in prices comes after the international oil benchmark surpassed $90 a barrel.
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