Bombardment across the Middle East intensified for a seventh straight night, as Iran reported three people killed in US strikes and launched retaliatory attacks against several American military sites in Kuwait and Jordan.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said two oil tankers exploded after striking mines in the Strait of Hormuz, blaming the incident on “deceptive American intelligence agencies”. The US military swiftly rejected the allegation.
Speaking on state television, the Revolutionary Guards also claimed they had “stopped” four vessels attempting to pass through the strategically vital waterway.
US forces, meanwhile, said they carried out further attacks on Iran aimed at efforts to “continue degrading Iranian military capabilities”, according to a US Central Command statement posted on X.
US President Donald Trump has previously threatened strikes against Iranian infrastructure. However, the US had not confirmed yesterday that its forces had begun targeting such facilities.
Iranian state news agency IRNA reported that US attacks killed three people
Major General Mohsen Rezaei, a senior military advisor to Iran’s supreme leader, warned that Tehran would restart “full-scale offensive operations” if American strikes continued for another two or three days.
“Iran will no longer limit itself to retaliatory, like-for-like responses … and no political border will be safe,” Mr Rezaei said, according to Iranian news agency IRIB.
The war erupted on 28 February with deadly US-Israeli strikes against Iran. Tehran responded by effectively shutting the Strait of Hormuz — a crucial route for much of the world’s oil — and attacking Israel and American interests throughout the Gulf.
Iranian state news agency IRNA said three people were killed and eight others wounded by US attacks in Hormozgan, a southern province bordering the strait.
Iran’s army said it retaliated against American attacks by striking US military targets in Kuwait and Jordan, according to a statement carried by the Iranian state broadcaster.
In Kuwait, Iranian forces targeted an ammunition depot at the Al-Adiri camp, along with headquarters buildings, ammunition stores and several communication bridges at the Ali Al-Salem base.
Fuel tanks at Jordan’s Al-Azraq base were also targeted, the state broadcaster reported on Telegram.
Kuwait’s army warned on X that residents could hear explosions as “air defence systems intercepting hostile targets”.
Sirens also sounded in Bahrain, home to a major US naval base, according to the kingdom’s interior ministry.
David Khalfa, a Middle East specialist with the Paris-based Jean-Jaures Foundation think-tank, said a “widening range of strategic infrastructure” was being pulled into the confrontation.
“The paradox is that, while the conflict continues to escalate, neither side has a strategic interest in allowing this dynamic to continue. Yet both perceive any compromise as a form of capitulation,” Mr Khalfa told AFP.
With the power network under pressure from what authorities described as US attacks on energy facilities, Iran’s energy ministry urged people to cut electricity use and turn off air conditioners during peak hours, despite soaring temperatures in some parts of the country.
Iran’s military had already warned that infrastructure elsewhere in the region would be at risk if its own facilities came under attack.
Yesterday, it followed through with a sweeping series of strikes.
Attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz have continued
In Kuwait, where Tehran said American military installations were targeted, the electricity ministry reported damage to a power and water plant from an Iranian attack and appealed to consumers to ration electricity.
The Kuwaiti military said Iranian drone strikes on several bases and camps had wounded a number of its troops.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they attacked US radar systems and military aircraft in Qatar to “punish the aggressor”. Doha said it intercepted a missile assault.
The Guards also claimed strikes against two US radar sites in Oman and the Al-Tanf military base in Syria.
A Syrian military source disputed the claim that an attack had occurred, while US forces said they had pulled out of the base earlier this year.
In Iraq’s Kurdistan region, drone and rocket attacks yesterday killed nine members of an armed Iranian Kurdish opposition group, according to the exiled Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, which blamed Iran.
Iran’s health ministry said the renewed fighting has killed at least 38 people and wounded more than 400 across the country.
Diplomatic mediators have sought to steer the warring sides back toward negotiations.
China and Pakistan urged the US and Iran to halt the fighting and return to talks.
Amid the broader escalation, the US has also reinstated its blockade of Iranian ports. Attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz have persisted, with the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency reporting that a tanker was hit by a projectile off Oman yesterday.
