President Donald Trump has ordered additional strikes on Iran, the military announced Monday, marking the 10th consecutive night of U.S. attacks in a push to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — a critical waterway that typically sees about 20% of the world's oil pass through it.
"Today at 4 p.m. ET, U.S. forces began a new round of strikes against Iran at the Commander in Chief's direction," U.S. Central Command said in a statement. "The strikes are designed to further degrade Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz."
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The new strikes follow a weekend in which 3 U.S. service members were killed in the region — one in northern Iraq during a "controlled detonation" of a downed Iranian drone, and two others at a U.S. base in Jordan hit by Iranian drone and missile strikes. One other service member remains missing, though the military said "unidentified remains" were found Sunday and were being evaluated.
Seventeen U.S. service members have died since the war began in late February.
The ongoing escalation has ultimately voided a memorandum of understanding agreed to by both countries to bring an end to the war. The U.S. military has said the strikes are intended to degrade Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
Although Iran's military has been weakened by the strikes, it has continued to maintain control of the strait.
