US launches Iran strikes for ninth day

U.S. forces struck Iran for a ninth consecutive day on Monday as the number of confirmed American military deaths in the renewed fighting rose to three and concerns grew over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.



In a statement, U.S. Central Command said it started "a new wave of strikes" aimed at "degrading" Iran's ability to attack commercial vessels in the strait's vital shipping lanes.



The Central Command announcement gave no further details. But Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency, citing its own reporters, said U.S. missiles struck several Iranian cities early Monday.



Explosions were heard in Tabriz, Chabahar, Konarak, Bandar Mahshahr and Bandar Imam Khomeini, according to Tasnim.



In the latest American casualty reported in the war, the U.S. military said on Sunday that a service member was killed on Saturday in northern Iraq, where the U.S. has military bases, during a controlled detonation of what Central Command called unexploded ordnance on a downed Iranian attack drone.