The United States has carried out its ninth consecutive night of air strikes against Iran, with Iranian media reporting explosions in multiple cities, including Sirik, Jask, Tabriz and Chabahar.

The attacks on Monday came as the US military confirmed the death of a third soldier in recent days, and as a month-old ceasefire agreement unravelled amid a fight for control of the Strait of Hormuz.

The US military said the attacks were aimed at “degrading Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial vessels and mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz”.

It said it targeted Iranian military command centres, air defence and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, as well as communications networks.

Explosions were reported across Iran, from the port cities of Bandar Mahshahr and Bandar Imam Khomeini in the Gulf to Jask and Sirik near the Strait of Hormuz, according to the state broadcaster IRIB. Air defence systems were also activated amid the sound of explosions in the southeastern cities of Konarak and Chabahar, according to the Fars news agency.

Further explosions were heard near the city of Khvormuj in Bushehr province and as far north as the city of Tabriz.

Iran attacks Kuwait, Jordan

Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said the latest US strikes again targeted Iran’s southern coast, an area that has been hit repeatedly over the past nine days, with earlier attacks damaging bridges, railway lines and an airport.

Jask and Sirik, both frequent targets, were struck again, while the explosions in Tabriz marked the first time the northwestern city had come under attack since the escalation began, he said.

While Iran has “witnessed yet another night of escalation”, Iranian leaders “are also talking about their retaliatory strikes”, he said, with state media saying Tehran had launched a wave of missiles from Lorestan province at US military bases and other assets across the region.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it retaliated with missile and drone strikes on Jordan and Kuwait. Meanwhile, sirens also sounded in Bahrain.

The IRGC said it had struck US aircraft at Jordan’s Aqaba airport and claimed to have destroyed hangars at the Muwaffaq Salti airbase in Azraq. It also claimed to have hit US military facilities at Ali Al Salem airbase in Kuwait.

‘We hit them very hard’

In Washington, DC, US President Donald Trump told reporters the Pentagon was hitting Iran “very hard” to honour the three service members killed in Jordan and Iraq.

“We hit them very hard again tonight, and we did that in honour of the, probably three, it’s probably three great patriots,” Trump told reporters after returning to the US capital following the World Cup final. He said “we feel very badly” about the deaths, adding that “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon”.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meanwhile, said Washington was still open to diplomacy, but “it has to be real”. He urged “other countries” to “step up” to help protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, whether by providing “hardware or finances”.

Separately, Iran and the US have also taken aim at shipping traffic, with Washington saying it is enforcing a naval blockade on Iranian ports, and Tehran saying it targets vessels violating its rules on navigating the Strait of Hormuz.

The IRGC said on Monday that two oil tankers attempting to transit the waterway the previous night had “exploded” while attempting to use an “unsafe” corridor there.

It said the ships did so under what it described as US coercion.

“This passage is unsafe for the transport of chemical fertiliser or even a single drop of oil and gas,” the IRGC warned, adding that the corridor would remain unsafe as long as US military operations in the region continue.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Sunday it has redirected six commercial vessels and disabled another ship to ensure “full compliance” with its blockade.

The conflict, which began when the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, has killed thousands of people, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, and led to serious disruptions to energy supplies and fears over global inflation. (Al Jazeera)

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