Iran unleashed a fresh wave of attacks against US allies in the Gulf after American forces struck Iranian military sites, including logistics infrastructure, for a seventh straight night, deepening the conflict one week after a fragile ceasefire collapsed.
The confrontation also spread across key shipping lanes. The US said it was enforcing a naval blockade, while Iran said it targeted vessels that broke its navigation rules in the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic passage carrying one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.
Oil prices surged more than 4% yesterday, reaching their highest level in over a month and intensifying political pressure on US President Donald Trump as his Republican Party seeks to retain power in November’s congressional elections.
Since their ceasefire agreement unravelled last week, Washington and Tehran have repeatedly tested the boundaries of escalation, fuelling fears of a renewed all-out war.
“US forces employed fighter aircraft, aerial drones and warships in addition to other assets,” Central Command said in a statement.
“More than 50,000 American service members are operating across the Middle East and remain vigilant, lethal and ready,” it added.
Iran said four vessels breached its rules in the Strait of Hormuz
Several missiles hit power facilities and desalination pumps in the southern Iranian city of Jask, Iranian media reported, citing a local official.
The official said the strikes had cut off drinking water supplies to villages in Jask.
The US said its forces redirected four commercial vessels, disabled one and boarded another as part of its effort to enforce the naval blockade of Iran.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, meanwhile, said a combined missile and drone operation stopped four vessels from passing through the Strait of Hormuz after they violated Iranian rules governing shipping traffic.
Iranian media also cited the Revolutionary Guards as reporting that two oil tankers exploded and caught fire after travelling through a mined route south of the waterway.
The US military dismissed that account as false.
Elsewhere, armed men seized another vessel off Yemen, heightening anxiety over security at the Middle East’s other major oil-shipping choke point, near the entrance to the Red Sea.
Iranian state television quoted the Revolutionary Guards as saying no chemical fertilisers, or even a “single drop of oil and gas”, could be exported from the region until US “aggression” ends.
Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, yesterday warned Washington against further escalation or any effort to seize Iranian territory.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was troubled by the intensifying conflict, particularly “attacks on civilian infrastructure in Iran and across the region”, his spokesperson said.
US President Donald Trump has threatened sweeping airstrikes against Iran’s infrastructure
The US military’s Central Command said the latest targets included “military logistics infrastructure”, marking its first reference to infrastructure in more than a week.
Iranian media reported enemy strikes in coastal Hormozgan Province, on Iran’s side of the Strait of Hormuz.
State television said three people were killed and eight wounded, while two bridges and a road tunnel sustained damage.
Explosions were heard or strikes were reported in Sirik, Ahvaz, Yazd, Jask and Khorramabad last night or early today, according to Iranian media.
Iranian state media said US attacks struck at least five bridges in the south yesterday.
Seven people were reportedly killed in attacks on bridges in the southern port of Bandar Khamir, where a railway station was also hit.
Further east, away from the coast, an airport was reported hit in Iranshahr, in a province bordering Pakistan.
President Trump has threatened wide-ranging airstrikes on Iranian infrastructure and has refused to rule out a ground assault targeting Iran’s coastline or islands.
US officials have said the attacks on southern Iran are intended, in part, to provide Mr Trump with a wider range of options.
Any such action could prompt Iran to strike critical infrastructure in vulnerable Gulf states, or lead its allies in Yemen to further disrupt global energy supplies by targeting shipping in the Red Sea.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said it struck a US drone depot in Bahrain
Iran announced attacks against Gulf countries hosting US airbases, including Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan, as well as a US vessel in the northern Indian Ocean.
Saudi Arabia’s civil defence issued early warnings in at least two locations — its first in several months — but had not reported any damage.
During an earlier phase of the war, Iran struck energy facilities in the oil-rich kingdom.
Kuwaiti authorities said an Iranian attack hit one of the country’s power generation and water desalination stations, causing damage and a fire while knocking a large number of electricity-generating units out of service.
The Kuwaiti army later said it was responding to attacks by Iranian drones.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said ballistic missiles and drones struck a US drone depot in Bahrain and destroyed the country’s main artificial intelligence centre.
State news agency IRNA reported that the Iranian navy launched a shore-to-sea cruise missile at what it described as a hostile US vessel in the northern Indian Ocean.
Iran’s army said the launch created “fear and panic” aboard the vessel and forced it to retreat beyond the Iranian navy’s range.
