US strikes in Iran hit airport, bridges and railway station

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy warned on Friday that the US was moving closer to the “zero hour” for a potential Iranian military operation against US Central Command (CENTCOM) naval units in regional waters.

In a statement carried by Iranian state television, the IRGC Navy Command said the movements and military equipment of US forces were “under surveillance” by Iran’s naval units.

“The Americans are drawing closer by the moment to the zero hour of an operation by Iran’s Armed Forces against CENTCOM naval units in the region’s waters,” it said.

The command concluded its statement with the warning: “Wait and see.”

Earlier, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on X that US forces destroyed a surveillance tower at Iran’s Shahid Kalantari Port in Chabahar on July 16, describing it as part of a maritime surveillance network used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) along Iran’s Gulf of Oman coastline.

According to CENTCOM, the surveillance network had been used for decades by the IRGC to monitor commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The US military claimed the strike would degrade the IRGC’s ability to coordinate attacks on civilian merchant ships.

CENTCOM further said the operation was intended to protect freedom of navigation in regional waters, while maintaining what it described as the ongoing US naval blockade against Iran.

Separately, the US military has denied Iran’s claims of killing US soldiers in Syria, according to a CENTCOM post on X.

Iran said it had killed US troops stationed at a base in al-Tanf on the Syria-Jordan border. Syria said there’s been no Iranian attacks on the US base which US forces left in February.

IRGC commander says attacks will continue until calm returns to Hormuz

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Commander Seyed Majid Mousavi said on Friday that the Iranian attacks will continue “until calm returns to the southern coastline and the Strait of Hormuz”, Al Jazeera reported.

“In the system of calculations, the entire territory of Iran — from Tehran to the south — is one and the same. Effective and targeted strikes from across Iran against the enemy will continue until calm returns to the southern coastline and the Strait of Hormuz,” he said in a statement carried by Iranian state TV.

Iran says major roads reopened, traffic restored hours after US strikes

Iran’s Road Maintenance and Transportation Organisation said all major roads across the country remain open and traffic has resumed on sections damaged in overnight US strikes, according to Press TV. In a statement on X, the organisation said road maintenance teams restored traffic on affected routes, including several bridges in southern Iran, within 12 hours of the attacks.

It added that temporary bypasses had been constructed around damaged sections, allowing vehicles to continue using the affected roads. “Despite the enemy’s savage attacks on transportation infrastructure, all road routes across the country remain open and traffic is flowing,” the statement said.

Several military personnel injured in Iranian strikes: Kuwait

The Kuwaiti military said several personnel have been “wounded as a result of enemy drones targeting several facilities and camps affiliated with the Kuwaiti Army this morning, following the heinous Iranian aggression”.

Israel is using US taxpayer dollars to silence any US critics: Iran’s Araghchi

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi took a dig at the US government, reiterating the warning of Israeli interference in Washington’s foreign policy and domestic politics.

“Americans are being warned of Foreign Influence. How about the extensive Israeli Campaign to bamboozle the US Administration into an unwinnable war of choice?” Araghchi wrote in a post on X.

Araghchi referred to an article in Time magazine that reported Trump’s former presidential campaign manager, Brad Parscale, running an Israeli influence operation targeting the MAGA base.

“Even worse: Israel is using US taxpayer dollars to silence any US critics,” he wrote. “It will all soon unravel.”

US extends strikes on Iran to bridges and airport in escalation of campaign

The United States escalated its renewed bombing campaign on Iran on Friday by hitting bridges and an airport, and ​Tehran responded with strikes on US bases across the Middle East.

In the contested Strait of Hormuz, where the renewed conflict has again cut off global energy supplies from ‌the Middle East, US Marines boarded a tanker and another ship was reported to have been hit by a projectile.

The warring sides have been testing the limits of escalation since their ceasefire agreement collapsed last week, raising the prospect of a return to all-out war.

US President Donald Trump has threatened to launch broad-based air strikes on Iran’s infrastructure, and has also declined to rule out a ground assault on Iran’s coast or islands. US officials have said ​attacks on southern Iran are designed in part to give Trump options.

But such moves risk provoking Iran to escalate in turn by hitting the infrastructure of neighbouring countries, or further disrupt energy ​supplies by having its allies in Yemen attack shipping from the Red Sea.

The US military’s Central Command included “military logistics infrastructure” in the list of targets it ⁠said it had struck in its latest attacks on Iran, the first time it has mentioned infrastructure in more than a week.

For now, the attacks appeared to be limited mainly to southern coastal ​areas that have already been targeted intensively in recent days.

Iranian state media said at least five bridges had been struck in the south. Seven people were reported killed in attacks on bridges in the ​southern port of Bandar Khamir, where the train station was also hit. An airport was reported hit further east and away from the coast in Iranshahr, in a province bordering Pakistan.

Bahrain air defence intercepts Iranian attacks, Kuwait says desalination plant damaged

Bahrain and Kuwait both reported strikes against their territories on Friday by Iran, with Bahrain saying that their air defences managed to intercept aerial attacks and Kuwait reporting damage on a desalination plant.

One of Kuwait’s power generation and water desalination stations was hit in an Iranian attack, causing damage to facilities, a fire and the disruption of a large number of electricity generation units, Kuwaiti authorities said on Friday.

Firefighters brought the blaze under control, while technical teams began assessing the damage, securing the station and working to restore the affected electricity generation units to service as soon as possible, the Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy said.

Iran claimed to have destroyed High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) platforms and missiles in attacks on Kuwait at several locations, where Tehran said American forces and Israeli-backed fighters are stationed, according to Al Jazeera.

Iranian attacks eliminated “a large number of anti-revolutionaries and American special forces [and] the tit-for-tat operations are ongoing,” the IRGC said in a statement.

Bahrain’s armed forces said its air defence systems intercepted and destroyed “a number of hostile Iranian aerial attacks” today.

“Iran has continued its aggressive approach by carrying out cowardly attacks targeting civilians in the Kingdom of Bahrain,” the military said in a statement.

It also urged everyone to exercise caution, avoid approaching any strange or suspicious objects that may have resulted from the Iranian attack, and report them immediately.

“The General Command stresses that the deliberate use of missiles and drones to target civilians and private property constitutes a blatant violation of international humanitarian law,” the statement noted.

Hormozgan MP says US attacks ‘disregard civilian lives’

Ahmad Moradi, a member of parliament from Iran’s Hormozgan, said that the targeting of civilian infrastructure and the killing of civilians are “a sign of the criminal nature of these attacks.”

According to Al Jazeera, Moradi was visiting the bridges destroyed during the latest US attacks in Bandar Khamir as reported by Iran’s Mehr news agency.

Moradi, referring to the damage to the city’s communication infrastructure, said: “The destruction of bridges and public infrastructure once again revealed the nature of these attacks and the disregard for the lives of civilians.”

He added: “[Iran’s] armed forces will defend the country’s security with authority and will respond to aggression at the appropriate time.”

Iran claims attack on US air base at Qatar’s Al Udeid

Iran said that its forces targeted the US air base in Al-Udeid, Qatar, in the 15th wave of attacks, according to Al Jazeera.

The IRGC said in a statement that the Iranian attacks destroyed a long-range radar system and several US strategic refuelling aircraft, according to the country’s IRIB news agency.

“The American enemy and the hosts of its bases in the region should know that crossing red lines and attacking people and civilian infrastructure will have a very severe and miserable price. If the enemy continues this trend, more crushing responses are on the way; responses that will remain in the history of battles,” it said.

Qatar says child injured as missile attack intercepted

Qatar announced Friday that its army had intercepted a missile attack, with falling debris injuring a child.

“The Ministry of Defence… announces that the armed forces have intercepted a missile attack that targeted the State of Qatar,” the ministry wrote on X.

A child was injured by falling debris after the interception, the interior ministry later reported.

Iran has targeted several Gulf countries since hostilities with the United States resumed on July 7, claiming to be aiming at American military installations.

Qatar, a mediator in talks with the United States alongside Pakistan and host to the largest American base in the Middle East, was targeted on Sunday for the first time since the April truce.

US attacks on civilian areas reveal its hypocrisy: Iran official

Ebrahim Azizi, the head of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security Committee, said on Friday that the US attacks in southern Iran on residential and civilian zones “reveal the hypocrisy of those who preach ‘human rights’”.

“The proud South has always been Iran’s fortress of defence, and every Iranian’s heart beats there,” he said in a post on X.

“To the enemies of this resistant and victorious nation: The Armed Forces will not let the blood of the innocent go [unavenged],” he added.

Mother killed, child critical after US attack on Bandar Abbas

A woman has been killed in the US attacks on southern Iran’s Bandar Abbas, leaving her one-year-old child critically injured from shrapnel wounds, according to Al Jazeera.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that the US strike in the Tappeh Allah Akbar neighbourhood of Bandar Abbas killed the mother and left eight others injured.

IRGC says it hit US jets in Jordan

Iran’s IRGC say they have hit US fighter jets stationed in Jordan, Iranian state TV reported, according to Al Jazeera.

Earlier, the Jordanian army had said it shot down three Iranian missiles targeting the country.

Iran says 38 killed, at least 400 injured since US resumed strikes

At least 38 people have been killed and over 400 have been injured since the US resumed strikes on Iran in July, according to the Head of Public Relations of Iran’s Ministry of Health and Medical Education.

In a post on X, Hossein Kermanpour said that as of July 17, “the number of injured from US attacks has exceeded 400, and 38 compatriots have been martyred; among them are 22 injured women, 3 martyred women, 9 injured under 18, and 1 martyr under 18.”

“Health is the first victim of war,” he said.

The two sides met in Switzerland on June 22 for talks to end the war through a 60-day negotiation period as agreed upon in the Islamabad MoU.

US strikes in Iran hit airport, bridges and railway station, killing 3

Deadly US strikes overnight hit an airport, a railway station and two bridges in Iran, killing three people, Iranian state media reported on Friday.

The United States and Iran have traded fire as the foes battle over the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway in the renewed Middle East war.

A US strike on two bridges in Hormozgan province killed three people and wounded nine, state TV wrote on Telegram, updating an earlier toll.

“Three explosions were heard around the airport and at least one American enemy projectile hit Iranshahr airport,” in the southeast, state television IRIB said on Telegram.

“A few minutes ago, the Bandar Abbas Railway Junction Station was targeted by the American enemy. According to this report, two Iranians were injured in the attack,” the Mehr news agency said on Telegram.

Read: Iran continues to talk to US, wants to make a deal, White House says

Another US attack wounded one person in the western port city of Bushehr, Iranian state media posted on Telegram.

Separately, Iran’s Mehr news agency reports that a US missile strike has hit the Chabahar maritime control tower, as per Al Jazeera.

The attack marks the third time a US strike has hit the facility over the past week, it added.

Iran’s IRGC targeted US command centre in Syria, Tasnim reports

Iran struck eastern Syria on Friday, Iranian state media ​and a Syrian military source said, in the first ‌known attack by Tehran on Syrian territory since a regional war erupted earlier this year.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had attacked a US special operations ​command centre at al-Tanf in Syria in retaliation for the ​killing of Iranian soldiers in Iranshahr, state media reported.

Reuters ⁠could not independently verify the claim. A Syrian military source told Reuters ​that Iran had carried out an attack near Tanf but that ​it had not hit the base itself. The source said there were no casualties or material damage.

The US military said in February it had completed a withdrawal from ​the al-Tanf base positioned at the tri-border confluence of Syria, Jordan ​and Iraq.

Syria has sought to avoid being drawn into the regional conflict that has ‌engulfed neighbouring countries, including Lebanon, where Hezbollah has fought Israeli forces, and Iraq, where Iran-backed armed groups have launched drone and rocket attacks.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said in March that his country would stay out ​of any conflict ​unless it ⁠came under attack.

“Unless Syria is targeted by any party, Syria will remain outside any conflict,” Sharaa said ​at an event hosted by the Chatham House ​think tank ⁠in London.

The Guards also said Iran retained full control of the Strait of Hormuz and that no oil or gas would be exported ⁠through ​the waterway for as long as ​US attacks continued, according to the state media report.

Qatar says intercepted missile attack

Qatar said Friday it had intercepted a missile attack, after AFP journalists in the capital Doha reported hearing several blasts.

“The Ministry of Defence of the State of Qatar announces that the armed forces intercepted a missile attack which targeted the State of Qatar,” the defence ministry wrote on X.

Tanker hit by unknown projectile off Oman’s coast, UKMTO says

A tanker was hit by an unknown projectile on Thursday while sailing about 19 nautical miles (equivalent to about 35km) east of Khasab, Oman, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency has said, Al Jazeera reported.

The crew is reported safe, with no environmental impact, UKMTO added.

JD Vance: Claims Kushner, Witkoff benefited financially as Iran negotiators ‘completely bogus’

US Vice President JD Vance denied reports that top White House advisers Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff attempted to benefit financially from their roles as Iran negotiators.

“This is completely bogus”, Vance said in a post on X, describing Kushner and Witkoff as “trusted members of the president’s team”.

“The idea they’re trading on insider information is absurd,” said Vance, responding to a different X post from The Hormuz Letter.

The post came after Drop Site News reported on Thursday that Iran had written to Vance during negotiations in Switzerland to say Kushner and Witkoff were “abusing” their access as negotiators.

Read more: ‘They better behave,’ Trump warns Iran amid fresh hostilities

“I never received a message like this,” Vance said, adding that “no one has done more than the two of them [Kushner and Witkoff] to work towards peace and prosperity in the region”.

The US vice president’s remarks came hours after he accused some members of Israel’s government of trying to “derail” US efforts to end the war through a “foreign influence campaign”.

US completes 6th consecutive night of strikes on Iran, CENTCOM says

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Thursday that it completed a new wave of offensive strikes against Iran, marking the sixth consecutive night of US military operations targeting Iranian military assets.

“Today at 9:40pm ET (6:40am PKT), US Central Command (CENTCOM) completed its latest major wave of strikes against Iran,” it said in a statement.

According to the command, the strikes targeted coastal surveillance and air defense sites, military logistics infrastructure and maritime capabilities.

“At the Commander in Chief’s direction, CENTCOM is further degrading Iranian military capabilities and holding Iran accountable for recent attacks on commercial shipping,” it said.

CENTCOM added that more than 50,000 US service members are currently operating across the Middle East and remain “vigilant, lethal, and ready.”

Tensions between the US and Iran have recently escalated regarding the Strait of Hormuz, with the two sides exchanging attacks despite a Pakistan-mediated memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the conflict and reaching a lasting peace agreement.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said earlier that the reason for recent US strikes is “because Iran violated the memorandum of understanding that we struck with them.”

“Specifically, in the memorandum of understanding that they signed, they were not to fire on commercial vessels moving through the Strait of Hormuz, and unfortunately, they have made the tragic decision for them to do that,” she said.

The US announced Tuesday that it resumed a naval blockade against vessels transiting to or from Iranian ports and coastal areas.

CENTCOM said American forces redirected three commercial vessels trying to run the blockade, disabled one that did not comply, and boarded one to ensure full compliance with the blockade.

Addressing the nation Thursday night, President Donald Trump said the US is “winning big in Iran.”

“We are winning big in Iran, and you will see the fruits of that labour very, very shortly,” Trump said

Iran accused the US on Thursday of committing “war crimes” by targeting civilian infrastructure in attacks, saying the strikes violated international law and the UN Charter.