President Donald Trump has been fond of describing U.S.-Iranian clashes during a ceasefire as "love taps." But over the past month, those taps have become deadly blows. On July 8 the president declared the peace memorandum between the two countries "over," and a few days later he restored the U.S. naval blockade of Iran. Since then, there's been a gradually escalating air war across the Middle East that has killed at least four U.S. troops and at least 50 Iranians.
Last weekend saw the most intense violence. Iran bombed U.S. troops in Jordan, killing three. Although most of the fighting had been taking place in the countryside, air raid sirens blared in Jordanian cities for the first time in weeks when Iran attacked King Hussein International Airport in the port city of Aqaba on Sunday. Another American died in Iraqi Kurdistan while handling a crashed Iranian drone. After the U.S. military allegedly hit a water plant in southern Iran, the Iranian military bombed water and electrical plants in Kuwait several days in a row. Kuwaitis tell me that the air raids feel more intense now than during the full-blown war in March 2026.
