The United States hit Iran on Friday, with Tehran accusing US forces of striking civilians sites and drawing Iranian threats of reprisals on regional infrastructure.
The renewed battle over the Strait of Hormuz has reignited the Middle East conflict, with the two sides exchanging attacks for six consecutive days, reports AFP/BSS.
The US military said it had struck “dozens of Iranian military targets” in response to attacks on commercial shipping, marking the latest escalation after a preliminary agreement with Tehran collapsed.
Iranian authorities said Friday’s strikes hit an airport, a railway station and two bridges, killing at least seven people.
“If the Americans strike the infrastructure of the Islamic Republic, all infrastructure across the region will become legitimate targets for Iran,” Iranian state television quoted a senior armed forces spokesperson as saying late on Thursday.
The renewed fighting comes about a month after a preliminary deal aimed at ending the conflict, which began in late February with large-scale US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
Tensions have since risen again as Tehran seeks to assert control over the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial route for global oil supplies that had remained open to international shipping before the war.
Iran had already warned that it would target regional infrastructure if US President Donald Trump followed through on threats to strike Iranian power plants and bridges, although the White House said he remained open to diplomacy.
The Islamic republic responded to the latest US attacks by launching strikes on Washington’s allies in the Gulf.
Qatar and Kuwait said on Friday that they were responding to missile attacks, while journalists in the Qatari capital, Doha, reported hearing several explosions.
In Bahrain, Iran targeted US helicopters and aircraft at an air base in what state media described as retaliation for attacks on urban infrastructure and civilians.
Bahraini authorities urged residents to take shelter and sounded warning sirens.
The attacks came a day after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had struck a US air base in Jordan with ballistic missiles in response to what they described as an American attack near a children’s cancer hospital outside Ahvaz in southwestern Iran.
Iranian state media said the hospital was evacuated after US air strikes hit the surrounding area, which Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei described as “barbaric”.
Hani, a 34-year-old teacher from Ahvaz, said the strikes were intense.
“My hands are shaking. There were at least 11 or 12 explosions. My ears are ringing,” he said.
A senior Iranian military spokesperson called on the United States to withdraw from the region and said Tehran would not retreat over the Strait of Hormuz.
The strait, one of the world’s most important oil shipping routes, was briefly reopened after the US-Iran agreement in June, but Tehran said last week that it would close the waterway again until Washington ended its attacks.
The United States has also reinstated its blockade of Iranian ports.
The US military said on Thursday that its forces had boarded a vessel in the Gulf of Oman to ensure compliance with the blockade and had redirected three ships since the restrictions resumed.
Pakistan, which helped mediate last month’s memorandum of understanding, urged all sides to end the violence and resume technical-level negotiations.
Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said Islamabad would continue encouraging both sides to return to talks.
Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, however, warned that any agreement would only remain meaningful if its provisions were respected and implemented.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday that Trump would hold Iran accountable for failing to honour its commitments, while maintaining that he remained open to diplomacy.
“They have expressed that they still want to reach a deal with the president. We are talking to them, but the president will not allow them to fire on ships in the strait without consequences,” she said.
Trump previously threatened to attack Iranian power plants and bridges unless Tehran returned to negotiations, warning that the situation could worsen further.
Iran’s military leadership responded by saying that regional infrastructure would be targeted if Washington carried out those threats.
Renewed US attacks since last week have killed at least 30 people in Iran, according to government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani.
