Key Takeaways
- Iran launches fresh attacks on American infrastructure following six consecutive days of US strikes.
- US forces continue to target Iranian military facilities, including coastal surveillance and air defense sites.
- Escalation threatens global energy prices as Strait of Hormuz traffic is largely halted.
Iran has launched fresh attacks on American infrastructure in the Gulf following a sixth consecutive night of US strikes on Iranian military facilities. The conflict, which began with a fragile truce, has resumed into daily attacks and counterattacks.
According to US Central Command, their forces, including fighter jets, aerial drones, and warships, have launched precision munitions that hit dozens of Iranian military targets such as coastal surveillance and air defense sites, military logistics infrastructure, and maritime capabilities. The strikes targeted Qeshm Island and near Bandar Abbas, home to Iran’s largest port and key navy and Revolutionary Guards facilities.
In response, Iran has fired missiles and drones at US military bases in neighboring states, including an air base in Jordan. In the early hours of Friday, Iran’s military said it had attacked US facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait. Several explosion-like sounds were heard in Doha, with a child reportedly injured by shrapnel.
Iranian media reported that five bridges were hit in the latest round of US strikes, as well as the train station in coastal Bandar Khamir and Iranshahr Airport in southeastern Iran. State news agency IRNA reported seven people killed in US attacks on bridges in Bandar Khamir, a port city in southern Iran.
The escalation has once again largely halted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important shipping route for oil and gas, pushing up global energy prices. Tehran resumed its blockade of the strait and Washington again blockaded Iranian ports from Wednesday.
Iran has signalled it could prod the Houthi’s in Yemen to close another key strait: the Bab al-Mandeb at the mouth of the Red Sea, sources told Reuters, if Washington attacks Iran’s infrastructure. Iran last week hit ships moving through a corridor in the strait.
Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, stated that US President Donald Trump would not “sit by and allow these active acts of terrorism to take place in the strait without ensuring Iran pays consequences for that.” However, she added that the president was “always open to diplomacy at the very same time.”
Iran keeps a firm grip on the Strait of Hormuz, wanting all ships using it to travel through a channel close to its shores and intends to charge passage fees at the end of a 60-day negotiation period set in last month’s memorandum. Washington had encouraged ships to use an alternative route to the south, along the Omani coast.
US forces said their airstrikes have hit military targets along the coast to cripple Iran’s ability to control the strait. Iranian Army spokesperson Brigadier General Mohammad Akraminia said on Thursday this would not work because Iran could strike the strait from anywhere on its territory.
