US-Iran war highlights: US service member killed in Iraq; seven commercial vessels halted under Iran blockade

US-Iran war LIVE:A heavily-damaged bridge which was hit by a US strike is pictured along the road connecting Roudan and Bandar Abbas in southern Iran on July 18, 2026.

US-Iran war highlights: Tensions in the Middle East further escalated on Saturday after two US soldiers were killed, and four others injured, in Iranian fire in Jordan. Washington has not yet identified the soldiers killed and injured in the attack. This live blog has now ended. Following this, the US military said it carried out new airstrikes against Iran on Sunday to “swiftly punish” the country’s Revolutionary Guard for the casualties caused during attack in Jordan.

The strikes were designed to further degrade Iran’s ability to restrict the traffic of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, US Central Command said. The waterway accounted for roughly 20% of global oil supplies before the war.

Since the war began, 16 US service members have been killed and over 430 wounded.

Iran' suspends' commitments to interim deal

An Iranian negotiator said Tehran had suspended its commitments under the interim deal with the US, the Associated Press reported. This is huge setback to the ceasefire measures as the war shows no end in sight.

Strikes reported in southern Iran

An area near Sirik, on the Strait of Hormuz, was targeted around 1:30 a.m. local time, according to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, which cited local authorities in southern Hormozgan province.

A location near Hajiabad, in the same province, was also targeted, and explosions were heard in Bandar Abbas, according to IRNA. An area near Qeshm Island, inside the strait, was also targeted, according to Iran's state-run broadcaster, IRIB.

In neighboring Iraq, a base of the Kurdistan Freedom Party, an Iranian Kurdish dissident group, near Irbil was struck by a drone early Sunday, wounding eight of its members, according to Rebaz Sharifi, a military official with the group.

Residents of Irbil, the capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region, also heard explosions from air defenses early Sunday.

Irbil has been targeted by drone attacks multiple times over the past four days, which coincided with a visit by new Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi to Washington last week and an ongoing escalation between the U.S. and Iran.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but in the past both Iran and Iran-backed Iraqi militias have launched attacks in the Kurdish region, where both U.S. troops and armed Kurdish Iranian dissident groups are present.