US President Donald Trump has addressed the deaths of two American troops killed in an Iranian attack on Jordan.
In an interview with the New York Post, he said despite the attacks, which resulted in two US troop deaths, several injuries and one soldier still missing, that the US mission in Iran would not be affected.
Mr Trump said the Iranians attacked Jordan because the kingdom does not “want to see Iran have a nuclear weapon”. He added: “It just shows you how bad [the Iranians] are.”
On Truth Social, Mr Trump posted that as a result of the recent Iranian strikes throughout the Middle East, he wanted the Republican-controlled US Congress to “add Iran to the Russian sanctions bill”.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said: “Godspeed, heroes. Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve.”
On Sunday, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the focus to “degrade the Iranian ability from terrorising the world” would continue, during an appearance on ABC's Sunday politics show, This Week.
Mr Wright addressed concerns in the US about rising fuel prices linked to the current Strait of Hormuz situation.
He said shipping traffic through the strait was still “dramatically up” from levels in March immediately after the initial US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
At least 15 American troops have been killed since the war began on February 28. Hundreds more have been injured, with thousands of people killed in Iran.
Iran carried out heavy attacks across the region after latest US strikes, as Tehran said it was suspending its commitments under the interim peace deal. Iranian strikes hit bridges, power facilities and other infrastructure, and Iran appeared to target Saudi Arabia, as well as Jordan and other US allies in the Gulf.
It came after a week of US bombing in Iran. The country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, said in a written statement published on Saturday that US breaches of the interim deal “have once again proven to everyone the truth of how worthless and invalid the signature of the US President is”.
Mr Khamenei has yet to be seen in public since he was injured in the attacks that killed his father and predecessor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as other family members.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei accused the US of seeking control of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world's oil supply usually flows. Both sides have taken aim at shipping traffic in the strait, with Washington saying it is enforcing a naval blockade on Iran and Tehran attacking commercial vessels in the waterway.
