The Pentagon on Monday released the names of two U.S. service members who were killed in an Iranian missile attack on a military base in Jordan.
First Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, were killed in the Friday attack, according to the Pentagon statement.
After U.S. Central Command launched another wave of strikes overnight — which President Donald Trump said was in retribution for their deaths — Iran retaliated Monday morning, as Kuwait and Bahrain said they intercepted aerial attacks.
In a statement carried by state media Monday morning, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that it targeted multiple U.S. military facilities at Kuwait’s Ali Al-Salem Air Base. Bahrain’s defense forces said they had intercepted several aerial attacks as well.
The IRGC also reported that two oil tankers had “exploded” and were left disabled after using an unauthorized route through the Strait of Hormuz, the embattled waterway that is one of the world’s most critical chokepoints for oil supplies.
Amid the intensifying attacks, the average price of gas in the United States hit $4 a gallon on Monday, the second time it has reached that mark since the war disrupted global oil supplies, according to AAA.
Gas prices first reached the $4 mark on March 31, a month into the joint U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign against Iran.
The price of oil also rose above $90 a barrel on Monday for the first time since June before easing back to just under $89, up about 1 percent.
Energy markets have had a turbulent stretch.
Oil prices rose nearly 16 percent last week alone, their steepest weekly climb since April, while European natural gas prices closed at their highest level since March, according to Deutsche Bank.
With the midterm elections looming in November, President Donald Trump has been searching for a way out of the costly and unpopular war, but the emboldened Iranian regime has shown no willingness to surrender to Trump’s demands including the full reopening of the strait.
Just 29 percent of American voters say they approve of Trump’s handling of the war, even fewer than the 33 percent who approve of his handling of the economy, according to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll. Voters also seem to be struggling to keep up with the war’s seemingly circular developments.
Overall, Trump’s approval rating stands at 37 percent.
The Strait of Hormuz continues to be a major flash point.
The U.K. Maritime Trade Operations agency said Sunday that a cargo vessel was left ablaze off the coast of Oman after being struck by an unknown projectile near the Strait of Hormuz. In an update Monday it said the crew of the burning tanker had abandoned ship and were recovered by a tug boat.
The mounting toll among U.S. service members is also fueling fears that the conflict could spiral beyond its current bounds.
Trump called the two U.S. deaths from Friday’s attack in Jordan “a very sad thing.”
Feehan served with the 32nd Army Air Missile Defense Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, while Gonzales was assigned to the 10th Army Air Missile Defense Command in Ansbach, Germany.
Their deaths, along with that of another servicemember in Iraq on Saturday, bring to 17 the number of American soldiers killed since Trump initiated the war on Feb. 28. Centcom also said Sunday that another set of unidentified remains had been found at the base in Jordan.
A spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, Esmaeil Baqaei, said in a news conference in Tehran on Monday that messages from Washington had reached Tehran through intermediaries even as the strikes continue.
“We have been informed by mediators,” Baghaei said, according to Agence France-Presse. “We have received messages, without going into details, but the main point is that the diplomatic apparatus has been active in recent days and ideas have been conveyed to us by certain mediators.”
Baghaei added that Iran would not allow the Strait of Hormuz to be used to threaten the country’s security and that Tehran is “determined to take the necessary measures” to defend its sovereignty.
He blamed Washington for the recent escalation, adding that Iran held “no hostility” toward regional states but expected them to prevent their territory from being used for attacks against it.
“As long as these crimes continue,” he said, “our armed forces will respond to them.”