The deaths of two US service members in Iranian attacks on Jordan, Tehran’s suspension of its commitments under the memorandum with Washington and a new threat from Iran’s Supreme Leader have raised fears that the war is entering a darker and more dangerous phase.
US Central Command said in a statement the two service members were killed in action on July 17 as US and partner forces defended against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks in Jordan. One American service member remained missing in action.
Four other US service members were medically evacuated to hospitals in Jordan and later discharged, CENTCOM said. Other personnel evaluated for minor injuries had returned to duty.
This brings the total number of American service members killed since the Iran war began in late February to 16, with more than 430 wounded, according to official figures.
“Godspeed, heroes. Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve,” US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said in a post on X.
The deaths came as Iran expanded missile and drone attacks against US-linked facilities across the region, targeting sites in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain. Jordan said it intercepted 10 missiles early Saturday, while Kuwait reported injuries and damage to a power and desalination plant.
The Gulf Cooperation Council condemned the attacks as a dangerous escalation and said infrastructure and civilian facilities had been hit. GCC Secretary General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi said the bloc stood with Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan in measures taken to defend their security and sovereignty.
Tehran also intensified its warnings to Arab governments along the Persian Gulf. Seyed Majid Mousavi, commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force, advised the rulers of those states to take Iran’s “final warning” seriously.
Separately, an unnamed Iranian security official warned that Dubai and Abu Dhabi airports, along with the ports of Fujairah and Jebel Ali, should be evacuated immediately if the United States struck civilian infrastructure in Iran, the IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency reported.
Mojtaba Yousefi, a member of parliament’s Construction Committee, said Israel and Persian Gulf states were more vulnerable than Iran if infrastructure became a target. He said Tehran could strike Israeli railways and bridges.
Collapse of Iran-US MoU
The threats unfolded alongside the breakdown of the diplomatic understanding between Tehran and Washington. Iranian officials said the country had suspended its commitments under the Islamabad memorandum of understanding after accusing the United States of violating the agreement.
Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Washington had “trampled all of its commitments” and that Iran was therefore no longer implementing its own obligations. He said there was no new information about possible talks with the United States, adding that Tehran was focused on defending the country.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Iran was still pursuing diplomacy while keeping its armed forces fully prepared. He said the MoU had operated on the basis of “commitment for commitment” and that Tehran no longer regarded itself as bound by it after what he called the US breach and the start of military attacks.
Iran’s announcement came as the United States continued striking infrastructure and military-linked sites inside Iran during a seventh consecutive night of operations.
US attacks hit bridges, a road tunnel, surveillance sites, underground weapons storage facilities and maritime infrastructure. A strike on the Mirzaei tunnel in Hormozgan province severely disrupted telecommunications, causing widespread phone and internet outages in northern Bandar Abbas, local authorities said.
Officials in Hormozgan urged residents to avoid unnecessary road travel because of the possibility of renewed US attacks.
Khamenei vows ‘unforgettable lessons’ for US
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since being reportedly injured in the February 28 attack on his father’s office, issued his latest written message, saying: “The Great Satan’s repeated breaches of understandings prove just how worthless and invalid the US president’s signature is.”
He accused Washington of bullying, expansionism and brutality, said the United States had once again revealed its “true face” and warned that Iran had “unforgettable lessons” for Washington if the US continued its military escalation and accepted heavier costs.
Khamenei’s message reinforced Tehran’s argument that the diplomatic track had collapsed because Washington could not be trusted. It also tied the formal suspension of the MoU to a broader warning that the conflict would continue both inside Iran and across the region.
On the ground in Hormozgan province, the damage has fallen heavily on the civilian road network, and the tally has grown by the day.
On Friday the provincial governor's office said six bridges had been struck in Khamir county alone, cutting the Bandar Abbas to Lar highway; its list ran from the Gariveh bridge to spans near the villages of Latidan and Maru, with residents told to keep off the routes and leave them clear for rescue teams.
Within a day, officials were adding to it. The Shahid Mirzaei road tunnel was reported damaged in both directions, the Roudkhaneh Shour bridge was hit on the Bandar Abbas to Sirjan route, and two more bridges were damaged on the road from the Minab junction toward Roudan. With attacks continuing nightly, no official list has stayed final for long.
The attacks have also reached utilities. Iranian media reported missile strikes on power facilities and desalination pumps in the coastal city of Jask, leaving some 10,000 people in 20 villages without water, according to the Tasnim news agency. The maritime control tower at Chabahar, which the Tehran daily Etemad described as civilian infrastructure that guides shipping and coordinates sea rescues, was hit for the third time in a week.
A port city going quiet
The cumulative effect is visible in Bandar Abbas, the provincial capital and Iran's main commercial gateway on the strait. Iran International has learned that the city has gone semi-dormant under the naval blockade and the severing of its road links, with activity at Shahid Rajaee, the country's largest container port, reduced to a minimum.
Half of the port's workforce has been laid off in recent weeks, according to the information received, and those still employed are working for minimum pay. More than 4,000 containers are stranded in the port's yards. The blockade closed the sea route weeks ago; the strikes on bridges are now closing the roads.
The Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries a fifth of the world's oil, has been shut to Iranian exports and contested for a week, with US Marines boarding a tanker, the Revolutionary Guards saying they stopped four vessels with missile and drone fire, and Washington enforcing what it calls a naval blockade. The Guards say that until US attacks end, not a drop of oil or gas will leave the region.
Talk of a ground campaign
Trump has made no secret of the targeting. He told Fox News this week that the United States would knock out Iran's power plants and bridges unless Tehran returned to negotiations, and said the strikes would continue "until I say it's enough."
Asked in the same interview about sending ground troops, the president declined to rule it out. "Sometimes you need a ground campaign," he said, adding, "we have other people who will do the ground campaign for us." He said American forces had already struck Kharg Island, the hub of Iran's oil exports, two or three times, with instructions to spare the oil terminals themselves.
Vice President JD Vance has said the United States does not intend to send ground troops to Iran, leaving the administration's position less than settled. US officials, for their part, have said the attacks on southern Iran are designed in part to give Trump options.
In Tehran, some of the loudest voices in the Islamic Republic's establishment are reading the map the same way. Amir-Hossein Sabeti, a hardline lawmaker from Tehran, wrote on social media that the destruction of the south's transport links was most likely the prelude to a ground attack, arguing that damaged roads and bridges would hamper the movement of Iranian forces ahead of any attempt to seize islands or key points on the coast.
Sabeti reserved part of his message for his own government, demanding that President Masoud Pezeshkian and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf either deliver on their promise that the agreement with Washington would end the war or admit their judgment had failed.
The swipe pointed to a widening argument inside the establishment over who bears responsibility for the ceasefire's collapse.
Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader and a former Revolutionary Guards commander, warned that if US strikes continue for several more days, Iran will move into what he called full-scale offensive operations.
Analysts note that a week of air strikes has not reopened the strait, and that controlling it durably may ultimately require forces on the coast or islands that command it, a step no amount of bombing substitutes for.
The targeting of bridges, power stations and water plants, on both sides, has drawn warnings beyond the region.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was concerned by attacks on civilian infrastructure in Iran and across the Persian Gulf, where Kuwait's desalination plants have been hit twice in two days by Iranian strikes.
The 1949 Geneva Conventions prohibit attacks on sites essential to civilian survival, and American legal scholars warned earlier this year, after Trump first threatened Iran's infrastructure, that such strikes could amount to war crimes.
Oil prices climbed more than 4 percent on Friday to their highest level in over a month, a third straight weekly gain that adds pressure on Trump ahead of November's congressional elections.
The previous record was 1,900,000 rials, registered on May 4. Other foreign currencies also rose. The British pound reached 2,576,500 rials, while the euro climbed above 2,190,000 rials.#
At Friday’s open-market rate, Iran’s official monthly minimum wage of 166,255,500 rials is worth about $87.
The new low follows a sharp deterioration in Iran’s economic outlook. The International Monetary Fund expects the economy to contract by 6.1% in 2026, after previously forecasting modest growth.
Average inflation is projected to reach 68.9%, leaving households with fewer opportunities to earn money while the value of their income falls rapidly.
The IMF linked the downturn to damage to energy and transport infrastructure, lower production and exports, and disruption around the Strait of Hormuz.
The rial’s decline increases the cost of imported goods, raw materials and medicine, while feeding broader price rises in an economy already struggling with sanctions, war damage and years of economic mismanagement.
Iran operates several official and semi-official exchange rates, but the open-market rate is the price most closely watched by households and businesses seeking foreign currency.
The IRGC was designated alongside the Iran-linked Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right and Russia’s GRU Volunteer Corps, the first organizations placed under powers created by the National Security (State Threats) Act 2026.
The designations took effect on July 17 after Parliament approved an order submitted by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood four days earlier.
Under the new law, it is now a criminal offence to express support for the groups, including by glorifying or encouraging activity that threatens the safety of the United Kingdom.
Providing assistance or accepting money or another material benefit from a designated organization can also lead to prosecution. Those convicted could face prison sentences of up to 14 years.
People who commit sabotage, arson or other hostile acts on behalf of the groups could be charged separately under the National Security Act 2023 and face life imprisonment.
The designation is distinct from banning an organization under Britain’s terrorism legislation. It is designed specifically to address hostile activity linked to foreign governments, including espionage, political interference, intimidation, sabotage and physical attacks.
The government says the new framework will make it easier to prosecute people working for foreign organizations because prosecutors will not always have to establish a direct connection between an individual act and a foreign government.
Outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer said when the measures were announced that Britain would not be allowed to become “a playground for states who want to spread fear, division and violence on our streets.”
“We have already taken tough action against the Iranian regime and those linked to it, and against Russian operatives and networks targeting our country,” he said. “These new powers will make it easier to prosecute and lock up anyone carrying out their dirty work here in Britain.”
The IRGC is one of the Islamic Republic’s most powerful military and political institutions. Its overseas Quds Force oversees Tehran’s relationships with allied armed groups and has been accused by British authorities of directing operations against dissidents, journalists and Jewish or Israeli-linked targets in Europe.
The British government said the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right had claimed responsibility for seven attacks this year against Persian-language media and locations linked to Jewish and Israeli communities in Britain.
Those incidents included an antisemitic arson attack that damaged four ambulances belonging to the Jewish emergency service Hatzola in Golders Green, north London, on March 23.
British authorities said Quds Force members were behind the organization and had “almost certainly” directed its attacks across Europe. The allegations have not been tested in court.
The government has also cited at least 20 potentially lethal Iranian-backed plots identified by the domestic intelligence agency MI5 over a one-year period.
“Iran and Russia are using proxies and thugs to do their dirty work on our shores,” Mahmood said when she announced the intended designations. “We will find you, and we will lock you up.”
The third designated organization, the GRU Volunteer Corps, is described by Britain as a network controlled by Russian military intelligence that recruits people online to carry out arson, sabotage, harassment and other hostile activity.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the use of proxies by Iran and Russia to conduct operations on British soil was “reprehensible.”
The designation marks a significant escalation in Britain’s response to the IRGC. Rather than banning the organization as a terrorist group, the government has created a separate route to prosecute support, recruitment, financing and operational assistance linked to hostile foreign-state activity.
