Iran strikes Gulf states as US escalates bombing campaign
Iran launched missile and drone attacks on multiple Gulf countries overnight, while the US continued its sixth consecutive night of strikes on Iran.
Tehran launched strikes against several countries across the Gulf and wider region overnight as the United States military escalated its attacks on Iran. Reports on Friday morning said that Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, as well as Jordan and Syria, had been forced to take defensive action against Iranian missiles and drones, amid a sixth night of US strikes on Iran.
The US air campaign targeted civilian infrastructure in the south of the country, including telecommunications networks, railway systems, and the Bandar-e Khamir bridge in Hormozgan province, where local media reported that at least seven people were killed on Thursday night.
Iran has justified its strikes by saying it is targeting US facilities in the region, insisting that Washington has used its bases as launchpads to strike Iran.
In Qatar, which hosts major US military facilities, the security threat level was elevated as loud explosions were heard across parts of the capital, Doha, early on Friday morning. Warning sirens sounded as residents received security alerts on their phones. The threat level was later lowered to “normal”. Qatar’s Ministry of Interior confirmed that a child injured by falling shrapnel is receiving medical care. Earlier, Qatar rejected Israeli reports that it was planning to join military action against Iran.
Iran’s army said it targeted US helicopters and reconnaissance aircraft at the Sakhir airbase in Bahrain. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed to have destroyed US monitoring assets in Oman, including an air control radar in the northern Ghanim region and a maritime surveillance radar on rocks in the Strait of Hormuz. The IRGC declared that the critical shipping waterway “remains in the hands of the IRGC Navy’s admirals”.
The IRGC also reported that it hit a US military base in Kuwait, targeting a missile defence radar, several weapons depots, and two HIMARS surface-to-surface missile launchers.
In northern Iraq, Kurdish counterterrorism forces reported that US coalition forces shot down eight explosive drones over Erbil. No casualties were reported.
The Jordanian army announced its air defence systems shot down three Iranian missiles transiting its airspace on Friday morning. No casualties were reported.
In Syria, the IRGC claimed to have attacked a US special operations command centre at the al-Tanf military base.
As hostilities escalate, threatening to spread across the region and curb the global economy, efforts to return to negotiations are accelerating. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar called on Friday for an immediate ceasefire and the resumption of dialogue, hoping to save the tentative ceasefire agreed upon last month. Wang described that agreement as “hard-won”, adding: “Peace is before our eyes, [we] cannot fall at the last hurdle.”
