US launches seventh night of Iran strikes as Hormuz conflict escalates
The US military launched a seventh consecutive night of strikes against Iran on Friday, as the conflict over the Strait of Hormuz intensified. Iran retaliated by targeting several Gulf states, while the IRGC threatened devastating consequences for countries hosting US bases.
US Central Command announced that the strikes, which began at 7 p.m. GMT, were aimed at further degrading Iranian military capabilities. According to Iranian state TV, US airstrikes on Friday hit bridges in Iran's southern Hormozgan province, killing at least seven people. The bridges were a key transit point for the main port of Bandar Abbas. Another strike brought down a tower in Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman, which the US military said was used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to facilitate attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. The US also targeted key electrical infrastructure and Iranshahr airport.
Iran's Energy Ministry urged citizens to reduce electricity and air conditioning use after the power grid came under strain due to strikes on energy facilities. The ministry noted that southern areas were experiencing extreme heat alongside attacks on power infrastructure. Human rights experts warned that targeting civilian infrastructure not used for military purposes could constitute a war crime.
A spokesperson for Iran's Health Ministry, Hossein Kermanpour, said renewed US strikes had killed at least 38 people and wounded over 400 in Iran by Friday morning. The attacks appeared to follow through on Donald Trump's promise to expand strikes against Iran, including infrastructure and power plants. The US president reportedly met with senior officials this week to discuss an expanded aerial campaign to force Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The current round of fighting has entered its seventh day and further undermined the interim deal between Iran and the US, which was meant to keep the strait open and allow negotiations for a permanent truce. Iran has closed the strait, and on Wednesday the US reimposed its blockade of Iranian ports and ships.
After US strikes on Friday, the IRGC threatened a "devastating price" for countries hosting US bases if American attacks on infrastructure continued. "The American enemy and the hosts of its bases in the region should know that crossing red lines and attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure will have a very severe and devastating price to pay," the IRGC said in a statement.
The Iranian military responded to US strikes by targeting Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Oman, and Qatar. Qatar, one of the mediators between the US and Iran, had been largely spared from Iranian retaliation in recent rounds. Qatari authorities said falling debris wounded a child as air defenses intercepted missiles. In Kuwait, authorities said Iranian strikes hit a power and desalination plant, damaging the water facility. The country relies on desalinated water for about 90% of its drinking water. Officials said they were working to assess the damage and restore the plant.
The renewed fighting has focused on the Strait of Hormuz, which handled about a fifth of the world's oil and gas supply before the war. Although a memorandum of understanding signed by the US and Iran last month stated the strait should be open, both sides interpreted the deal differently. Washington and Tehran advanced competing plans for ship transit, with Iran attacking some vessels that took the US route. Shipping in the waterway has drastically reduced over recent days, though most continuing ships used the Iranian route.
Iran's Tasnim news agency reported that a Thai-flagged vessel was targeted in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday after it allegedly ignored warnings and attempted to pass without permission from Iran's Revolutionary Guards navy. Iranian state media also said the US struck an empty oil tanker docked at Kharg Island, Iran's main oil export terminal.
US forces boarded a ship in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday as part of the renewed blockade. US Central Command also said it had "redirected" three commercial vessels trying to run the blockade since it took effect on Tuesday. The previous day, a US aircraft fired on and disabled an unladen oil tanker that tried to break the blockade.
Iran has asked its allies in Yemen, the Houthis, to prepare to close the oil route through the Red Sea if the US targets Iranian energy infrastructure, Reuters reported. Such a threat could paralyze the global energy market. Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi also threatened that all Saudi oil and other critical facilities could be targeted if Riyadh intervened in Yemen. This came after Saudi Arabia struck Sana'a airport, prompting retaliatory Houthi missile strikes on Saudi Arabia.
Weekly cargo shipments through the Strait of Hormuz dropped by almost a quarter at the start of the month, according to Lloyd's List Intelligence, even before the recent rise in tit-for-tat attacks. Some oil shippers are sailing with their location devices turned off, but many are staying put. A growing amount of region's energy is being shipped through pipelines, but not nearly enough to offset the decline in shipping.
On Thursday, Pakistan's foreign ministry said efforts were still underway to bring the US and Tehran to the negotiating table but acknowledged that was becoming increasingly difficult. Despite the escalating conflict and trade disruption, Trump said the war was going well for the US. "We are likewise winning big in Iran, and you will see the fruits of that labour very, very shortly," Trump said in an address to the American public.
