The United States expanded its airstrike campaign against Iran overnight into Friday, striking bridges, energy sites, and collapsing a tower at a key Iranian port as President Trump escalates pressure on Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping.
U.S. Central Command said it struck dozens of targets in its sixth consecutive night of airstrikes against Iran. The attacks hit bridges in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, including in Bandar Khamir, a coastal city on the Strait of Hormuz, the Associated Press reports. At least seven people were killed in those strikes, according to Iranian state television.
The highway and railway bridge strikes appear designed to cut off Bandar Abbas, Iran’s main port, from roads leading to Tehran.
A tower at Iran’s Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman also collapsed in Friday’s strikes, state-run IRNA news agency reported. Iran acknowledged the collapse as the “third round of strikes” on the facility.
“We are likewise winning big in Iran, and you will see the fruits of that labor very, very shortly,” Trump said in a primetime address to the American public Thursday night.
As of 6 a.m. Friday, U.S. strikes had killed at least 38 people and wounded more than 400 in Iran, according to the country’s Health Ministry.
Iran responded by launching missile attacks against multiple U.S.-allied nations in the region. Qatar triggered two separate shelter-in-place warnings Friday as Iranian ballistic missiles targeted the country, which serves as a key mediator in the conflict. Qatar’s Interior Ministry said falling debris from intercepted missiles wounded a child.
Iran also attacked Bahrain and Kuwait. In Kuwait, Iranian forces struck a power and water desalination plant, causing widespread damage. Kuwait authorities said they extinguished a blaze and were working to restore the station. Roughly 90 percent of Kuwait’s drinking water comes from desalination.
Jordan’s military intercepted three incoming Iranian missiles Friday morning.
The conflict traces back to Feb. 28, when the U.S. and Israel launched military operations against Iran. Tehran responded by effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic, sending global oil prices surging. About a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded worldwide once flowed through the strait.
An interim ceasefire agreed to last month has since collapsed. Cargo shipments through the strait have dropped by nearly a quarter week-over-week.
Iran’s Energy Ministry on Friday called on residents in southern provinces to reduce electricity use, acknowledging for the first time that American airstrikes had hit “power infrastructure.” The ministry did not specify whether power plants, transmission lines, or other equipment had been targeted.
Qatar and Pakistan have been attempting to mediate a diplomatic end to the conflict. Those talks have stalled over Iran’s continued blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
A tanker traveling through the strait near Oman came under attack Friday, the British military reported. The UK Maritime Trade Operations center said the ship sustained minor damage with no crew injuries.
