James' World 2

Click the link below the picture

.

The Pentagon said on Sunday that a third member of the American military had died during a weekend of intense exchanges of attacks with Iran, as the war escalated and the United States began sending more warplanes to the Middle East.

The soldier was killed in northern Iraq during the disposal of a downed Iranian attack drone on Saturday, the Pentagon said. There was no sign of diplomacy between the two sides, and the U.S. military said Sunday evening Eastern time that it had begun conducting a new wave of strikes against Iran for the ninth consecutive night.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said on Monday that two oil tankers had been disabled after they tried to traverse the Strait of Hormuz via a route that Tehran has warned ships not to use. “Both vessels exploded and were forced to cease movement,” the Guards said in a statement, without providing details or directly claiming responsibility for strikes on the ships. United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a monitoring group, earlier reported a vessel on fire off the coast of Oman.

The U.S. military said it had completed another round of strikes against Iran on Sunday night, marking the ninth consecutive night of attacks. U.S. forces’ targets included Iranian military command centers, surveillance sites, missile and drone launch sites, and communications networks, Central Command said on social media.

The U.S. Embassy in Manama, Bahrain’s capital, said early Monday that it had “information to suggest that Iran may seek to target unspecified locations in central Manama” and urged Americans to “remain vigilant.” Earlier, Bahrain’s Interior Ministry warned residents to head to safe spaces while sirens were sounding but provided no other details. The embassy’s warning came soon after the U.S. military said it was attacking Iran.

A vessel was on fire early Monday local time about eight nautical miles off of the coast of Oman, according to United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a monitoring group run by the British navy. The cause of the fire has not yet been verified, the agency said, noting it had receved the information from unspecified “military authorities” and advising vessels “to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity” while the incident was being investigated. The warning from the maritime authority came shortly after the U.S. military said it was launching attacks on Iran for the ninth consecutive night and Iranian state media reported firing missiles at “enemy targets.

”U.S. Central Command said on Sunday evening that it had begun conducting a new wave of strikes against Iran for the ninth consecutive night to degrade “Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”Kuwaiti air defenses were intercepting drone attacks by Iran, the Kuwaiti military said on social media early Monday local time. Sirens have also sounded in Bahrain, according to its Interior Ministry.

Oil prices cross $90 a barrel as the U.S.-Iran conflict widens.

Oil prices rose, and U.S. stock futures were little changed on Sunday evening after a weekend of fighting between the United States and Iran that left at least three American service members dead in Jordan and Iraq.

The United States has also begun sending more warplanes to the Middle East, signaling that the war may soon ratchet up further, an ominous sign for both oil and stock markets.

The U.S. military said that forces implementing the renewed blockade against Iranian ports, which began again on Tuesday, had as of Sunday redirected six commercial vessels and disabled one to ensure “full compliance.” The blockade was reinstated amid escalating hostilities with Iran, just a few weeks after the two sides reached a truce. During the initial American blockade, from April 13 to June 18, U.S. Central Command said that its forces had “redirected” more than 140 vessels and disabled nine ships that had attempted to get past the blockade.

.

A satellite image of the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, in Azraq, Jordan, which came under Iranian fire last week. Credit…Planet Labs Pbc, via Reuters

.

.

Click the link below for the complete article:

.

__________________________________________