Iran Reports 38 Killed as Conflict with US Escalates Across the Middle East
Iran’s health ministry has reported that at least 38 people have been killed and more than 400 wounded in the country since fighting with the United States resumed on 22 June. “The number of wounded from US attacks has exceeded 400, and 38 citizens have been martyred since 22 June,” said health ministry spokesman Hossein Kermanpour in a post on social media platform X, as reported by AFP on Friday. He added that among the casualties were 22 wounded women, three women killed, nine wounded individuals under the age of 18, and one person under 18 killed.
The Middle East has heated up again as the US and Iran resumed strikes, putting a ceasefire agreement signed by the leaders of both nations in June on the brink of collapse. In recent days, the US has launched several waves of air strikes against Iranian targets, both on land and at sea. Washington has stated that the strikes are intended to weaken Tehran’s ability to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. The strait has become the focus of the latest dispute between the US and Iran, as both vie for control over the vital waterway for global oil and gas supplies.
President Donald Trump recently warned Iran that the US could expand its strikes to target power plants and bridges in the country if Tehran does not return to the negotiating table. Amid the escalating situation, the White House said Trump remains open to diplomacy with Iran. “The President will hold them accountable when they renege on the words they gave to the United States,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt during a briefing on Thursday. “But at the same time, he is always open to diplomacy.” Leavitt further claimed that Iran actually wants to reach a deal with the US. “They have expressed a desire to reach a deal to the President. We are in communication with them, but again, the President will not allow them to shoot at ships in the Strait without consequences,” she said, referring to the attacks in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that its forces had struck two US military radar installations in Oman on Friday. The IRGC also targeted other US military infrastructure in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar on the same day. The barrage of attacks on Gulf states was described as retaliation for the latest wave of US strikes on Iranian targets. The IRGC stated that its forces had “targeted and destroyed a maritime surveillance radar in the Salamah Islands and a US air surveillance radar located in the Ghanam area.” Omani and US authorities have yet to respond to the IRGC’s claims. Iranian state television also reported that Tehran’s military targeted US military infrastructure in Kuwait in retaliation for Washington’s targeting of an airport, a railway station, and two bridges in Iran, which killed at least seven people. The state broadcaster reported that Iranian forces deployed drones to Kuwait to target “US troop deployment sites and US military logistical support centres, which are terrorist and child-killers.” The report added that the strikes were “a response to the crimes of the arrogant enemy and in retaliation for the blood of the martyrs on the homeland.”