Three US troops have been killed as Iran ramped up its deadly retaliation campaign across the Middle East in defiance of Donald Trump’s warning of an unprecedented escalation in force if attacks continued.
Tehran launched ballistic missiles and drones towards Israel and across the Persian Gulf on Sunday, striking US bases in Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE, as well as targeting a US aircraft carrier.
Israel and the US also unleashed fresh strikes, with blasts heard across the capital city, and former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad among those killed.
In a social media post on Sunday, President Trump warned the US would hit Iran “with a force that has never been seen before” if it tried to avenge the assassination of their Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during Saturday’s shock strikes.
And Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to intensify its strikes on Iran, saying its forces were “striking in the heart of Tehran” and warning “this will only increase in the coming days”.
But later, the US President said Iran’s interim leadership had called for talks, and said he had agreed. He told Atlantic magazine from his Mar-a-lago home in Florida: “… so I will be talking to them. They should have done it sooner. They should have given what was very practical and easy to do sooner. They waited too long.”
The offer of talks came shortly after US Central Command confirmed that three service members had been killed as part of Operation Epic Fury – the codename for the offensive against Iran – while five others were seriously wounded and several others sustained minor injuries and concussions.
The deaths are the first combat-related fatalities of US military personnel in major operations ordered by Mr Trump since he returned to the White House last year.
In another dramatic day:
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it had carried out further air strikes in the Iranian capital to “establish aerial superiority and pave the path to Tehran”, as well as dismantling the majority of defence systems in western and central Iran.
Concern is also mounting about the security of the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping lane for the global economy off Iran’s southern coast, where two vessels are reported to have been struck by “unknown projectiles” on Sunday.
The UK has played no part in the US-Israeli strikes, but defence secretary John Healey warned on Sunday that Iranian retaliation could put UK personnel and allies at risk.
British aircraft have been deployed on defensive operations, flying from Cyprus and Qatar and “taking down” drones and missiles “menacing” UK bases and allies, Mr Healey added. He also confirmed to Times Radio that a British “counter-drone team” in northern Iraq had shot down Iranian drones.
He said “few people” would mourn the Ayatollah, but repeatedly declined to say whether the UK backed the US-Israeli strikes that killed him, or if the UK believed they were legal, when asked six times by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.
