MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The U.S. military carried out a wave of strikes in Iran over the weekend, the ninth consecutive day of bombing.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
In a few minutes, we'll ask former President Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, what it will take for both sides to return to the negotiating table. But first, we have more details on the U.S. soldiers killed over the weekend.
MARTIN: NPR's Jane Arraf is with us now from Amman, Jordan. Jane, good morning.
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: Good morning.
MARTIN: It sounds like a weekend of heavy strikes, and we also had news of another U.S. casualty. What is Central Command saying about this?
ARRAF: Well, CENTCOM says a U.S. service member was killed in a controlled detonation of an Iranian drone in Iraq's Kurdistan region. Now a controlled detonation is when explosive experts try to disable a bomb or other explosives by deliberately and safely detonating it. Obviously, something appears to have gone wrong. The U.S. pulled out of the rest of Iraq, but it maintains a major presence in the Iraqi Kurdistan region, and it's been heavily hit there by Iranian missiles.
The U.S. military also identified two service members who were killed last week in Jordan. It says they were First Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, who was 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Private Isabella Gonzalez, who was 19, of Carrollton, Texas. They were killed in an Iranian missile attack on an airbase in Jordan. CENTCOM says, too, that it found unidentified remains at a base at the base in Jordan. It's not saying whether that was a service member reported missing after that Iranian missile attack that killed the two service members.
MARTIN: I understand that there are also many wounded as well. What is happening in Iran today?
ARRAF: Well, Iran is - has been reporting continuing attacks overnight. The U.S. last week attacked Iranian infrastructure, including bridges and electricity installations, most of them in a province that overlooks the Strait of Hormuz. Iran said it would respond with attacks in kind. And, Michel, it's been hitting electrical infrastructure and water desalinization plants in Kuwait. It's also been targeting Bahrain, where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based.
MARTIN: And a lot of this is about keeping control of the Strait of Hormuz, that major oil shipping channel. It's about keeping that channel open. What is the latest on that?
ARRAF: Iran says it disabled two tankers that were trying to pass through the strait without its permission. It couldn't be immediately verified, although the British military reported seeing a tanker on fire. Iran has vowed that, quote, "not a drop of oil" will pass through that strait while the U.S. is attacking, and oil prices are up again this morning.
MARTIN: Let's get back to Jordan, where you are. What is happening there? And remind us of why Jordan is involved in this.
ARRAF: Well, Jordan really doesn't want to be involved - it's a small and vulnerable country. But it's also the security partner of the U.S. here, and it has a peace treaty with neighboring Israel, so it's become a frequent target. There's a large military presence here - U.S. military presence - at bases, but most Jordanians don't see them. They're extremely unpopular here.
On Sunday, the U.S. embassy issued a warning saying there were threats against Aqaba, a tourist resort. The Jordanian government said there were no threats, but a short while later, Iranian missiles and drones targeted the airport. That airport was operating again normally today.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Jane Arraf in Amman, Jordan. Jane, thank you.
ARRAF: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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