WASHINGTON/TEHRAN: US President Donald Trump confirmed on Thursday that 18 people were killed in the latest American strikes on Iran, as Tehran threatened an “asymmetric” response and said it had launched fresh missile and drone attacks against US military facilities in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump addressed earlier remarks by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggesting that nobody had been killed in the strikes.
“Sec. Lutnick had Venezuela on his mind when he said nobody was killed,” Trump wrote, confirming the death toll from the attacks.
Iranian state media had initially reported seven people killed and eight wounded after US missiles struck three locations in the southwestern province of Khuzestan. Iran’s health minister subsequently raised the nationwide toll from the latest wave of attacks to 18 dead and 108 injured.
Separately, Iranian news agency ISNA reported that six members of the Iranian navy were killed in US attacks on Tuesday. It was not immediately clear whether those deaths were included in the 18 fatalities confirmed by Trump and Iranian health authorities.
The renewed US attacks prompted a warning from Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref, who said Washington’s latest military action had altered Tehran’s security calculations and defence doctrine.
“The recent US crimes against the Iranian nation have changed our security calculations and defence doctrine,” Aref said in a post on X. He said any future Iranian response would be “asymmetric, multi-layered” and intended to deprive an attacker of security.
Aref also threatened economic consequences for the United States, warning Americans to prepare for potential pressure on fuel supplies and predicting “dark months” for the US economy.
Meanwhile, the Iranian military said it had carried out a new round of retaliatory missile and drone strikes early Thursday against US military facilities in Kuwait and the UAE, describing the attacks as the 31st phase of its Operation Saeqeh.
Iran’s army claimed that missiles and attack drones targeted satellite communications equipment, storage facilities and fighter aircraft hangars at Ahmed Al Jaber Air Base in Kuwait, causing damage to communications systems and hangars.
It also said Iranian missiles and drones struck US troop positions and radar systems at Al Minhad Air Base in the UAE.
There was no immediate independent confirmation of the extent of the damage or the number of casualties from the Iranian strikes, and Tehran’s claims could not be verified at the time.
The Iranian military said its retaliatory operations would continue in response to further US attacks, raising the prospect of another cycle of strikes as direct fighting between Washington and Tehran intensifies.