Iran says at least 50 people have been killed and more than 500 injured in strikes by the United States this month, as an Iranian negotiator says their memorandum of understanding (MoU) is effectively \u201csuspended\u201d amid US violations.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Iran\u2019s Health Ministry reported the number of casualties from attacks since July 6 , hours after the US military\u2019s Central Command (CENTCOM) launched a seventh consecutive night<\/a> of raids on targets across Iran.<\/p>\n Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n They left 10,000 people without water after a desalination plant was hit, Iran said. Tehran retaliated by launching another wave of drones and missiles at US-allied Gulf states.<\/p>\n \u201cThe US has violated and suspended all its commitments within the framework of the Islamabad MoU,\u201d said Iran\u2019s Deputy Foreign Minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, in comments reported by the Fars news agency on Saturday.<\/p>\n As a result, Tehran has \u201clikewise suspended all our own commitments\u201d and implementation of the agreement and is \u201cbusy defending the country\u201d, he added, who took part in technical talks<\/a> on the agreement earlier this month.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei also criticised US actions, saying on Saturday that Washington has violated every aspect of the agreement over the last week. Baghaei said Iran has not sought war and has only defended itself in the \u201cimposed\u201d war, Fars quoted him as saying.<\/p>\n The comments come as the war shows no end in sight \u2013 with the battle over the Strait of Hormuz intensifying, the global economy on high alert, and widening strikes threatening civilians and services, including desalination plants for drinking water.<\/p>\n Civilian infrastructure targeted<\/p>\n A seawater pumping station and a power transformer at the Bunji desalination plant in Jask in southern Iran were \u201ccompletely destroyed\u201d in the latest US strikes, depriving 20 villages of water, the chief executive of the Hormozgan Water and Wastewater Company, Hamzeh Pour, was quoted by Iran\u2019s Tasnim news agency on Saturday as saying.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s retaliation also targeted civilian infrastructure, a war crime under international humanitarian law.<\/p>\n In the early hours of Saturday, Kuwait announced the closure of its airspace and said two power and water desalination plants were hit by Iranian attacks. Several Kuwaiti firefighters were wounded while responding to a fire started by the strikes, the firefighting force said.<\/p>\n Air raid sirens also sounded repeatedly in Bahrain, where authorities urged residents to seek shelter.<\/p>\n In Jordan, authorities said they intercepted 10 Iranian ballistic missiles.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said its naval forces targeted a US military fuel pier at Kuwait\u2019s al-Ahmadi port and a US warplane assembly site at Bahrain\u2019s Sheikh Isa Air Base. The IRGC also said it attacked a US base in Azraq in Jordan and destroyed two US fighter jets.<\/p>\n The Iranian attacks came after CENTCOM announced it had carried out another wave of overnight strikes targeting \u201csurveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage and maritime capabilities\u201d in Iran.<\/p>\n MoU \u2018over\u2019<\/p>\n US President Donald Trump declared at the NATO summit in Ankara 10 days ago that the MoU signed in mid-June by Washington and Tehran was \u201cover\u201d,<\/a> following Iranian attacks on tankers near the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n He reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports and revoked a sanctions waiver on Iranian oil exports.<\/p>\n Iran insists that under the interim peace deal agreed with the US, it has the right to control shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and dictate which routes ships should take when transiting the vital channel for global energy exports.<\/p>\n Trump says the strait must be open to all traffic \u2013 but the US Navy is again blockading Iranian vessels.<\/p>\n Trump is in a rush to reduce oil and gas prices ahead of crucial midterm elections in November. But his repeated threats and attacks on Iran have so far failed to persuade Tehran to surrender to his terms or even to return to negotiations.<\/p>\n US attacks have expanded in scope and intensity over the past week. Tehran has accused Washington of targeting civilian infrastructure and committing war crimes.<\/p>\n