Washington
\nPresident Donald Trump says the latest strikes by the US hit Iran \u201cvery hard\u201d, adding that the attacks were \u201cin honour\u201d of three US soldiers killed in recent days – two in Jordan, one in Iraq.
\nIn the early hours of Monday local time, US Central Command (Centcom) said it had launched a \u201cnew wave\u201d of strikes for the ninth consecutive night as explosions were heard across Iran.
\nThe US said it had targeted military sites and communications networks to \u201cfurther diminish\u201d Tehran\u2019s attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
\nIran said it had responded with a \u201csurprise attack\u201d in Syria and targeted US aircraft at Jordan\u2019s Aqaba airport.
\nElsewhere in the region, Kuwait\u2019s armed forces said they had intercepted Iranian drones.
\nOn the US strikes, Iran\u2019s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that several cities had been hit including Tabriz, Chabahar, Konarak, Bandar Mahshahr and Bandar Imam Khomeini.
\nThere were also Iranian state media reports that two oil tankers had exploded as the vessels tried to cross the strait.
\nThe Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the tankers were going through what it called an \u201cunsafe and hazardous southern route\u201d of the strait and \u201cexploded and were brought to a halt\u201d. Centcom disputed the claims.
\nThe IRGC added that the strait \u201cwill not be safe for the transit of petrochemical products, nor even a single drop of oil and gas\u201d as long as the US strikes continue and that it will respond with a \u201cpunitive operation\u201d.
\nOver the weekend, the US confirmed that a service member had been killed after an Iranian attack in northern Iraq on Saturday.
\nThat news came after the US said a separate attack on a base in Jordan on Friday had killed two soldiers there. The two have now been identified by the Pentagon as Pte Isabella Gonzales, 19, and Lt Tyler James Feehan, 25.
\nA third serviceperson was declared missing after the attack in Jordan, and US officials say \u201cunidentified remains\u201d have been found during the search process.
\nAs the strikes continued over the weekend between the US and Iran, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the US \u201calways remains open to a diplomatic solution\u201d.
\nHe also said \u201cthe world has to decide whether or not it\u2019s going to allow an international waterway to be under the control\u201d of Iran, saying Tehran was using the crucial shipping route as leverage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington President Donald Trump says the latest strikes by the US hit Iran \u201cvery hard\u201d, adding that the attacks were \u201cin honour\u201d of three US soldiers killed in recent days – two in Jordan, one in Iraq. In the early hours of Monday local time, US Central Command (Centcom) said it had launched a \u201cnew […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505517,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-557419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n