A woman walks past images of Iran’s current supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei (R) and his predecessors: his slain father Ali Khamenei (L) and the late Ruhollah Khomeini (2nd-L) while on the way to the Grand Mosalla in Tehran on July 5, 2026, for the funeral ceremonies of Ali Khamenei.
Ozan Kose | Afp | Getty Images
Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said Saturday that the country has “unforgettable lessons in store” for the U.S. after American forces concluded a seventh straight night of strikes against the country.
“Now that the American enemy seeks to ignite war and endure heavier costs, it should know that the Iranian nation and the Resistance Front have #unforgettable_lessons in store for it,” the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting said in a message from Khamenei on X.
The message comes hours after Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said the country has suspended its commitments to the memorandum of understanding signed last month with the U.S.
“The United States has violated and suspended all of its commitments under the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding,” he said. “We have also suspended our commitments; we are not implementing them and are busy defending our country.”
The fragile truce signed by the U.S. and Iran last month showed continued to unravel amid the latest round of fighting. The interim agreement was intended to reopen the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz and end the conflict.
The U.S. military said midday Saturday that two American service members in Jordan were killed on Friday in action as U.S. Central Command and partner forces defended against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks. Another U.S. service member, according to Centcom, is missing in action.
The additional fatalities add to previously confirmed deaths of 14 other service members since the war began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.
Centcom said early Saturday it ended a seventh straight night of strikes against Iran, as Kuwait and Bahrain reported attacks by Iranian projectiles and commercial shipping continued to face disruptions.
“CENTCOM continues to hold Iran accountable at the Commander in Chief’s direction while fully enforcing a naval blockade against Iranian ports,” it said in a post on X.
Centcom said the attacks, which ended at 9:30 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on Friday, struck “military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities.”
The military also said its forces intercepted several shipping vessels in recent days.
“During the first three days of renewed implementation, U.S. forces have redirected 4 commercial vessels, disabled 1, and boarded 1 to ensure full compliance,” Central Command said in a separate statement.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it blocked four vessels as they attempted to move under U.S. protection through the Strait of Hormuz.
“In a coordinated missile and drone operation, all four were halted and immobilized at sea,” Iran’s IRNA News Agency quoted the IRGC Navy Command as saying in a post on X.
Iran also appeared to continue its attacks on regional targets.
Kuwait said its air defenses were “responding to hostile drone threats.”
It also said an Iranian attack on its power and water distillation station caused a fire but no casualties, according to an X post by the Kuwait News Agency. It was the second attack on Kuwait’s water facilities in two days.
Kuwait is known to be overwhelmingly dependent on desalination for drinking water, with almost 90% of the arid nation’s water demand satisfied through seawater desalination plants.
Kuwait Airways said it rescheduled most of its flights, blaming “hostile missile and drone attacks following the Iranian aggression.”
Neighboring Bahrain’s government said early Saturday that its air defense systems intercepted several Iranian projectiles and sounded sirens to warn residents.
On Friday, Iran claimed it had targeted U.S. military forces in Syria and Bahrain.
‘Winning big in Iran’
U.S. President Donald Trump has insisted the war with Iran is going well, saying Thursday in a primetime address to the American public: “We are likewise winning big in Iran, and you will see the fruits of that labor very, very shortly.”
The U.S. president had threatened to strike Iran’s bridges and power plants next week if the country refused to return to the negotiating table.
Ian Lesser, distinguished fellow at GMF, a Washington-based think tank, said there appears to be a risk of the U.S. and Iran becoming mired in a so-called forever war.
“There’s a risk of this, but of course we were in essentially a cold and occasionally hot war with Iran for decades,” Lesser told CNBC by video call.
“I think in some sense this is misjudgment by the current administration. But it is also part of a pattern in the American approach to the use of force, that we have enormous capability and enormous operational prowess and we are hobbled by strategic mistakes,” he added.
Oil prices were sharply higher on Friday due to the ongoing unrest in the Middle East.
International benchmark Brent crude futures with September delivery advanced 4.6% to $88.10 a barrel on Friday, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures with August delivery gained 4.5% to settle at $82.49. Both were at their highest since mid-June.
For the week, both benchmarks gained about 16%, with Brent on track for a third consecutive weekly gain and WTI set for its second.
— Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
