Kuwaiti worker killed as U.S.-Iran conflict widens
Iranian strike hits China-owned business amid 'heavy wave' of attacks from U.S.
The United States and Iran each fired barrages of missiles on Thursday, as the pattern of back-and-forth strikes took hold again and hope dimmed for any quick resolution to the war.
An Iranian strike hit a Chinese firm's building in northern Kuwait on Thursday morning, severely damaging the structure and killing a worker, Kuwait's military said, hours after Jordan's air defences shot down five missiles launched from Iran.
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defences → kill → Iran
The attacks came after the U.S. military said it had completed "a heavy wave of strikes against Iran," conducted in response to an earlier Iranian missile attack on a U.S. base in Jordan.
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it → come → Jordan
The U.S. military's Central Command said online that it had struck "dozens" of targets belonging to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, including military command centres as well as missile and drone facilities, and coastal surveillance and defence sites.
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it → say → centres
The first strikes from the U.S. in five days came after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to hit Iran "very hard" after it targeted a base in Jordan that hosts U.S. troops.
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that → come → troops
Iran's official IRNA news agency said three people were killed and two were wounded in a strike on the island of Qeshm, which lies just off the Iranian mainland in the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway for global energy supplies that Iranian attacks have again effectively closed.
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attacks → say → that
No casualties were reported from Jordan's interception of the missiles, Jordan's state-run Petra news agency said, quoting the spokesperson for the country's armed forces.
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agency → report → forces
Both Jordan and Kuwait host U.S. military bases.
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Jordan → host → bases
The latest barrage came after the U.S. partnered with Saudi Arabia to strike Iran-backed militias in neighbouring Iraq, the Popular Mobilization Forces, killing at least 20 fighters and six Iranian advisers on Wednesday.
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U.S. → come → Wednesday
Iraqi men in the subsequent hours shouted Shia sectarian slogans and "Death to America" as they carried the bodies of slain fighters in body bags.
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they → shout → bags
Elsewhere, British maritime security firm Ambrey said drone strikes ignited fires on two natural gas vessels at the Egyptian port of Damietta on Wednesday.
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strikes → say → Wednesday
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the strikes on a U.S.-owned floating storage facility and a Greek-owned tanker, the GasLog Salem.
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who → float → facility
No injuries were reported.
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injuries → report → ?
The office of the Egyptian prime minister said initial investigations showed the fires on the two vessels had been caused by a drone.
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fires → say → drone
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen denied they were behind the attack.
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they → back → attack
Egypt, a close U.S. ally and regional mediator, is one of the only countries in the Middle East to have been spared direct military action during the war.
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Egypt → spar → war
A strike by Iran or its allies, if confirmed, would mark a significant widening of the conflict.
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strike → confirm → conflict
Saudi Arabia had accused the Iraqi militias of firing drones against its oil facilities over the past days.
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Arabia → accuse → days
An umbrella group of Iraqi militias initially denied the allegations.
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group → deny → allegations
Saudi Arabia is also locked in a renewed conflict with the Houthis.
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Arabia → lock → Houthis
The rebels have declared a blockade of Saudi shipping that could choke off another crucial Middle East trade route, the Bab el-Mandeb strait from the Red Sea into the Gulf of Aden.
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that → declare → Aden
Planet Labs satellite imagery from Monday analyzed by The Associated Press showed damage to Saudi Aramco's Abqaiq oil-processing facility.
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imagery → analyze → facility
The massive facility is capable of processing approximately seven million barrels of crude oil per day.
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facility → process → day
Saudi Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman met separately on Wednesday with Trump and U.S. Vice-President JD Vance, according to two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly about the private meetings.
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who → meet → meetings
An interim agreement struck in June that was to see Iran and the U.S. pause fighting for 60 days — in order to negotiate issues including maritime transit in the Hormuz as well as Iran's nuclear program — collapsed in recent weeks over renewed fighting in the Strait of Hormuz.
"We note with concern that the security situation remains precarious," said Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi, whose country has been a key mediator, adding that diplomats were still seeking an end to the fighting.
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diplomats → strike → fighting
Talks "are ongoing to normalize the situation, particularly the situation in the Strait of Hormuz," he told reporters.
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he → normalize → reporters
The fighting was likely to add to concerns in Washington that the U.S. is further drawing on already diminished stockpiles of sophisticated munitions in the five-month-old conflict it started with Israel on Feb. 28.
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it → add → Feb.
Since the war began, 18 U.S. service members have been killed, with the Trump administration recently accused of seeking to obfuscate those numbers.
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administration → begin → numbers
Roughly 61 per cent of Republicans surveyed approve of how Trump is handling Iran, according to the latest monthly poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
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Trump → survey → Research
The AP-NORC poll of 1,165 adults was conducted July 23-27 using a sample drawn from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population.
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which → conduct → population
The Aporia
