By Moses Okorie
The United States has carried out a sixth consecutive night of military strikes on Iran, further escalating hostilities as both sides continue to clash over control of the strategically important Strait of Hormuz.
The US Central Command (Centcom) said the latest operations were aimed at weakening Iran’s military capabilities. It also announced that US forces had boarded a vessel and intercepted commercial shipping as part of an ongoing blockade of Iranian ports.
Iranian state media, however, accused the United States of targeting civilian infrastructure, reporting that bridges, an airport and a railway station were among the locations hit. The BBC independently verified damage to one bridge west of Bandar Abbas in Hormozgan Province.
The latest wave of attacks reportedly struck areas near Qeshm Island, as well as the southern coastal cities of Bandar Abbas and Bushehr, where Iran’s only nuclear power plant is located.
While Centcom said its forces attacked dozens of military objectives—including coastal surveillance facilities, air defence systems, military logistics infrastructure and maritime assets—it made no reference to strikes on civilian infrastructure. The BBC said it had sought clarification from the US military.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed it responded by launching attacks on US maritime surveillance radar installations in Oman, as well as military targets in Kuwait and Bahrain. It also said it carried out a surprise strike on a US special operations command centre at al-Tanf in Syria, near the Jordanian border, describing the operation as retaliation for the deaths of Iranian soldiers two days earlier.
Neither the United States nor Syrian authorities immediately commented on the Iranian claim.
Elsewhere in the region, Jordan’s military announced that it intercepted three Iranian missiles on Friday, adding that no casualties or property damage were recorded.
Kurdish security forces in Iraq also reported shooting down eight drones over the city of Erbil without any injuries or damage.
The conflict has continued to disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran effectively blocked the vital waterway in response to joint US-Israeli military operations. The closure has affected the movement of oil exports from the Gulf, raising concerns about global energy supplies.
Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, warned that prolonged disruption could have serious consequences for the international energy market.
“We should be worried, and I am worried, if the situation does not improve in the next few weeks,” Birol said on Thursday night.
Diplomatic efforts also intensified on Friday, with the foreign ministers of China and Pakistan calling on Washington and Tehran to halt the fighting and return to negotiations.
The renewed military campaign comes after US President Donald Trump warned earlier this week that Iran’s bridges and power plants could become targets if Tehran refused to resume talks.
Following similar remarks by Trump in April about striking civilian infrastructure, including bridges and power stations, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned that deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure constitute war crimes.
Iranian state media reported that the latest US strikes hit Iranshahr Airport in southeastern Iran, a railway station in Bandar Khamir and five bridges in Bandar Abbas.
According to the official IRNA news agency, seven people were killed in the latest attacks.
Iran’s Health Ministry said at least 38 people had died and more than 400 others had been injured since the latest round of fighting with the United States began.
Centcom also confirmed that US Marines boarded an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman as part of the naval blockade imposed on Iranian ports, which began on Tuesday night.
The command said it had also redirected three commercial vessels attempting to bypass the blockade.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations reported that an oil tanker sailing near Khasab, Oman, was struck by an unidentified projectile on Thursday. All crew members were reported safe.
Centcom said that during an earlier blockade of Iranian ports between April 13 and June 18, US forces disabled nine vessels and redirected more than 140 commercial ships.