Iranian state media reported fresh US attacks on Sunday, saying more than 10 projectiles struck Qeshm Island, the country's largest island, in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, as hostilities continued to escalate between Tehran and Washington.
According to the IRNA news agency, explosions were reported near Qeshm Island, the port city of Bandar Abbas and Hajjiabad, all in the southern province of Hormozgan.
Hossein Amir Teymouri, governor of Qeshm township, told IRNA that "between 10 to 11 enemy projectiles have struck Qeshm Island since Sunday afternoon." Official sources told the news agency that "all of these areas are military" and that the attacks were under investigation.
The IRNA also reported that an employee of a telecommunications company was killed in attacks in Hormozgan.
"Following the enemy attack on Farur in Bandar Lengeh, one employee of the Mobile Communications Company of Iran was killed while carrying out his duties, and two of his colleagues were injured," the IRNA reported.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss military operations, said a few strikes were conducted on missile and air defense systems, as well as small boats of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard at a couple of locations around the strait to further degrade Iran's ability to attack commercial shipping.
Meanwhile, Iran said the Strait of Hormuz was closed on Sunday while the US insisted it remained open after the latest confrontation over the vital waterway.
UN chief calls on US, Iran to halt latest spell of fighting
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the United States and Iran Sunday to halt their new outbreak of fighting in the Mideast war and resume talks to end it.
Guterres specifically mentioned US attacks on Iran and the latter's strikes on ships in the Strait of Hormuz and US allies in the Gulf region. "These attacks must stop," Guterres spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
The latest strikes come after the US had attacked Iran on earlier Sunday over an IRGC strike on a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz that set it ablaze and left a crew member missing.
Iran responded with attacks on countries including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and Oman — the nation on the other side of the strait that Tehran has pressed to join in managing shipping traffic.
Iran and the US are nearly at the midway point of the 60-day period of their interim deal aimed at reaching a permanent end to the war.
The strait, a key route for the global supply of oil and natural gas and long considered an international waterway, has become a sticking point in negotiations that seem in danger of collapse.
Kuwait says three border posts, offshore oil platform hit
Meanwhile, Kuwait's defence ministry said on Sunday that three border posts and an offshore oil platform were attacked during a fresh exchange of strikes between the United States and Iran.
"Three land border posts in the north of the country were subjected to a cowardly attack, resulting in material damage," the statement said, without specifying the origin of the assault.
It added that an "offshore drilling platform belonging to the Kuwait Oil Company... was targeted by a hostile drone, resulting in material damage and the injury of one worker".
(With inputs from AFP and AP)
