Donald Trump says America is hitting back hard — and it's personal.

So, here's the latest from the Middle East — President Donald Trump has said US forces have hit Iran "very hard" in a fresh wave of overnight strikes, and he says it was done "in honour" of three US soldiers killed in recent days.

According to Trump, two soldiers were killed in Jordan and one in Iraq.

It comes as US Central Command — Centcom — confirmed in the early hours of Monday local time that it had launched a "new wave" of strikes for the ninth night in a row, with explosions reported right across Iran.

The US says it was targeting military sites and communications networks to "further diminish" Tehran's attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

But Iran is telling a very different story. Tehran claims it responded with a "surprise attack" in Syria and targeted US aircraft at Jordan's Aqaba airport, while Kuwait's armed forces said they intercepted Iranian drones elsewhere in the region.

On the ground, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported strikes in several cities, including Tabriz, Chabahar, Konarak, Bandar Mahshahr and Bandar Imam Khomeini.

There are also conflicting reports over two oil tankers. Iranian state media says they exploded while trying to cross the strait. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed the tankers were using what it called an "unsafe and hazardous southern route" and "exploded and were brought to a halt" — a claim Centcom has disputed.

The IRGC went further, warning that the strait "will not be safe for the transit of petrochemical products, nor even a single drop of oil and gas" as long as the US strikes continue, promising a "punitive operation" in response.

The escalation follows a grim weekend for US forces. The US confirmed a service member was killed in northern Iraq on Saturday after an Iranian attack, just a day after an attack on a base in Jordan killed two US soldiers and left another missing. The US said "unidentified remains" have since been found, with verification ongoing.

Despite the tit-for-tat strikes, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio insists Washington "always remains open to a diplomatic solution", but warned that "the world has to decide whether or not it's going to allow an international waterway to be under the control" of Iran.

All of this comes as that preliminary deal back in mid-June to stop the fighting has pretty much unravelled, with talks for a permanent peace stalling after Trump declared the agreement was "over" on 8 July.

Source: cbinews.tv

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