NPR has confirmed more than a dozen U.S. service members were wounded and two E-3 Sentry aircraft were damaged in an Iranian strike on an air base in Saudi Arabia on Friday.
President Trump has repeated the assertion that Iran wants a deal while he has also ordered thousands of U.S. troops to deploy to the Middle East and even warned the U.S. may try to seize Iran's oil and Kharg Island — or blow it up.
On Monday, Trump expanded a threat he had made if Iran refuses to open the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping passage, writing on social media the U.S. would not only destroy Iranian electric plants and oil wells but also "possibly all desalinization plants!" That would potentially raise the number of civilian infrastructure sites targeted in the region.
Iran struck a desalination plant in Kuwait overnight. And three United Nations peacekeepers were killed in Lebanon in 24 hours as Israel continues to battle the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.