US Bombing of Iran Expands             07/20 06:25

   The United States conducted a new round of airstrikes early Monday targeting 
Iran after announcing the death of another American service member, hitting 
around a northwestern city believed to be home to underground missile bases. 
Iran responded by launching an attack targeting Bahrain, the home of the U.S. 
Navy's 5th Fleet, and Kuwait.

   DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- The United States conducted a new round 
of airstrikes early Monday targeting Iran after announcing the death of another 
American service member, hitting around a northwestern city believed to be home 
to underground missile bases. Iran responded by launching an attack targeting 
Bahrain, the home of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, and Kuwait.

   The latest attacks again showed how, step by step, the U.S. and Iran have 
inched closer to all-out war as last month's interim deal meant to permanently 
end the fighting has crumbled and shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has 
largely stalled. Both sides have targeted civilian infrastructure relied on by 
millions of people.

   Meanwhile, benchmark Brent crude rose Monday above $90 a barrel, further 
fueling a global energy crisis sparked by the conflict. An average gallon of 
regular gasoline in the U.S. also rose to $4, a key metric for Americans that 
puts more pressure on their wallets ahead of midterm elections this fall.

   The U.S. military said the service member was killed in Iraq on Saturday 
during the "controlled detonation" of a downed Iranian drone.

   "We hit them very hard again tonight," U.S. President Donald Trump said. 
"And we did that in honor of the" soldiers killed, he said.

   US launches ninth night of Iran strikes

   The U.S. military's Central Command announced a new round of strikes early 
Monday, now into their ninth straight night. Central Command said it targeted 
"Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, 
maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and communications 
networks."

   Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported that the American strikes killed 
at least one person around Tabriz, a northwestern city about 520 kilometers 
(325 miles) from the capital, Tehran. Tabriz is believed to host underground 
missile bases run by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

   U.S. strikes likely also hit Bandar Imam Khomeini in Khuzestan province, 
Sirik and Jask in Hormozgan province and Konarak and Chahbahar in Sistan and 
Baluchistan province, IRNA reported.

   As the strikes began, a vessel caught fire early Monday in the Strait of 
Hormuz after being hit by a projectile near the coastline of Oman, the British 
military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. The crew 
abandoned the vessel, which was adrift and still ablaze hours later, the UKMTO 
said.

   The route around Oman has been the one the U.S. military has encouraged 
ships to travel to avoid Iran's control. The Guard later claimed it was 
targeting tankers in the strait.

   Tehran has retaliated by hitting U.S.-allied countries throughout the Middle 
East. Bahrain sounded its missile alert sirens Monday morning, while Kuwait 
said its air defense were firing at an incoming Iranian barrage.

   The Strait of Hormuz remains key to the conflict

   Trump has threatened to target Iran's power stations and bridges to try to 
compel Tehran to loosen its hold on the Strait of Hormuz, which saw one-fifth 
of traded global oil supplies transit before the war. Recent attacks suggest 
the U.S. military is carrying out that plan.

   The U.S. in the past week reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports to 
halt its shipments of crude oil. The military on Saturday said it had 
redirected six ships and disabled one since then.

   The halfway point has passed in the 60 days the deal set out to negotiate 
the permanent end of the war and other issues, including Iran's nuclear program.

   U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that the U.S. is still 
open to negotiating with Iran but that "it has to be real."

   "We're going to continue to respond. If the door opens to diplomacy -- if 
the guys that want to do something productive for Iran win and take control of 
that system, or take control of the negotiations -- that'll be a very positive 
development," Rubio said. "That's not where we are tonight, unfortunately."

   Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei hours later 
acknowledged that "proposals conveyed through mediators have been communicated 
to us," but he declined to elaborate on their substance.

   Mohammad Javad Zarif, a former Iranian foreign minister who helped elect the 
country's reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, acknowledged in an essay 
published Monday by Foreign Policy that the interim "deal could never survive 
such dissonance" over the Strait of Hormuz.

   "As the current conflict makes clear, Washington cannot eliminate the 
Iranian government," Zarif wrote. "Only diplomacy, a new peace agreement, and a 
new security framework produced by regional states and for regional states will 
allow the United States to turn its attention elsewhere."

   However, Zarif did warn the country's theocracy that "if Iran repeatedly 
threatens maritime traffic, it could turn much of the world against it."

   Iranian authorities on Sunday said at least 50 people have been killed and 
517 wounded in the latest rounds of U.S. strikes. Since the war began on Feb. 
28, 17 U.S. service members have been killed.