US President Donald Trump says the deaths were “a very sad thing”, adding that “we’re never allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon”.
Top Iranian commander Ali Abdullahi has warned the US, saying “any aggression or barbarism will be met with a decisive and devastating response” from Iran’s armed forces.
Kuwait’s state-owned oil company says one of its main facilities has been hit in an Iranian strike as Iraqi media report that the US consulate in Erbil activated air defences amid drone attacks.
Over the past eight days the Iranians claimed they downed four MQ-9 Reaper drones. These aircraft are used both for surveillance and attacks. Throughout the US-Israeli war Iran said it downed more than 150 different types of drones, and roughly 30 were MQ-9s.
Qassem Soleimani, the slain commander of the Guard’s Quds Force, was assassinated by MQ-9 near Baghdad airport in January 2020.
The MQ-9 has become one of the most recognizable military unmanned aerial vehicles because it allows operators to monitor targets for many hours, conduct surveillance over large areas, and strike targets with precision without risking a pilot in the aircraft.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says it intercepted and destroyed a US MQ9 drone in Ahvaz, a city in the eastern Khuzestan region that borders Iraq.
An MQ-9 is a large, remotely piloted unmanned aerial vehicle designed primarily for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and air strikes, according to a description by the US Air Force.
The US president has given a brief phone interview to the US cable network NewsNation.
Asked about Tehran’s announcement that it’s no longer abiding by the US-Iran memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed last month, Trump said, “I couldn’t care less.”
He repeated the war’s primary objective is “never allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon”.
The MoU was signed between Washington and Tehran in mid-June with the aim of ending the war launched by the US and Israel in February.
The latest exchange of deadly attacks kicked off because of disagreements over the management of the Strait of Hormuz.
Israeli forces have launched new ground raids across Syria’s Quneitra countryside over the past two days.
Five military vehicles entered the town of al-Samdaniyah al-Sharqiyah, and soldiers established a checkpoint and searched passers-by on Saturday, according to the Syrian state news agency, SANA.
Israeli soldiers stationed in al-Hamidiyah fired a mortar round and smoke grenade, causing no casualties.
On Friday night, six Israeli military vehicles advanced near Syria’s Koudna Dam under drone cover before later withdrawing.
Syria condemned the raids as violations of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and urged the international community to compel Israel to withdraw fully from the south
Iran leaders ‘fighting for their lives’; US fighting ‘over policy choices’
When it comes to commitment to winning the war, Iran has the “upper hand” as the US isn’t facing a threat to its survival, an analyst says.
“Right now you’re looking at an unpopular and increasingly costly war, and this historically has meant pressure for the United States to get out of that war,” said Paul Musgrave from Georgetown University in Qatar.
He told Al Jazeera “severe criticism” is mounting not only from the Democratic Party but also from the right of the political spectrum.
“Since February, the asymmetry on how interests have been conducted has been clear: the regime in Tehran is fighting an existential war. The United States and Israel are fighting a war over policy choices,” said Musgrave.
“That means that the Iranians are always going to have the upper hand when it comes to who is more credibly committed to the fight. They’re not going to back off because the price of oil goes up $10 a barrel. They’re in this for their lives, literally their lives.”
Warning sirens are sounding in Bahrain as Iran continues to strike its Gulf neighbours with missiles and drones.
“The siren has been sounded. Citizens and residents are urged to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The US and Iran have intensified attacks since an interim agreement signed a month ago fell apart last week, raising the possibility of a return to all-out war.
The High Court of Justice has issued a temporary injunction on the media industry overhaul bill. The sweeping bill was passed by the Knesset in its final hours before disbanding last week.
The order temporarily freezes provisions set to take effect immediately but does not suspend the law as a whole, local news reports said.
The legislation significantly increases government control over Israel’s broadcast media and news sector as it removes longstanding oversight mechanisms, minimum journalistic standards, obligations to invest in original productions and restrictions on cross-ownership, The Times of Israel reported.
The US said it completed an eighth straight night of attacks against Iran after earlier announcing two American soldiers were killed in Jordan and another is missing following an Iranian attack.
Gulf condemnation of Iran as civilian targets attacked in Kuwait
It’s an active and fluid situation at the moment. There has been a statement from the Kuwaiti army saying if the population hears any loud explosions, these are going to be interceptions above.
This, in a sense, is a reassurance to the general population that they are getting it under control, that they do have their layers of defence. So we’ve had that warning, and we’re waiting to see what happens from there.
There has been a flurry of condemnation against Iran, specifically over the past two days, with Kuwait’s electricity, desalination plants, and oil facilities having been hit, causing large fires.
There’ve been a number of injuries, including firefighters and civilians, specifically in one oil depot. Qatar has said if you’re going to hit civilian infrastructure, this has crossed all red lines.
Iran, meanwhile, has continued to say it is only aiming at US assets and bases across the region .He said the US president is caught in an “escalation trap” in which he appears to be intent on inflicting increasing pain on Iran but without achieving his broader aims.
“You have a president who entered a war on a sort of faulty strategic logic, [and] he is caught in some ways in what we call an escalation trap, where he can escalate tonight, tomorrow night – as he has for the last seven nights – and inflict pain and retribution, payback for the Iranians,” Harrison said.
“But military means should only be used to achieve some kind of political outcome. And if the political outcome desired is to get the Iranians to capitulate and give up the leverage they have tried to build or rebuild since the beginning of this war, it’s not going to work,” he said.
He argued that Trump faces a bind either way. “If he escalates further in retribution against these deaths [the killings of US soldiers in Jordan], it’ll inflict pain, but it’s not going to change [Iran’s position]. In fact, it may even harden the Iranians’ fortitude. And if he de-escalates, he is seen as being weak and succumbing to pressure from the Iranians.”
Trump, Harrison added, “seems not to have the kind of strategic capacity that would normally be used to get out of this situation”.