US Strikes Hit Bridges Near Hormuz As Iran Responds With New Attacks
The U.S. launched a fresh round of strikes on Iran overnight Thursday, including on bridges and one of the country’s major ports, while Kuwait has accused Tehran of damaging a civilian water desalination plant in the Gulf state after the latter targeted at least six countries in the Middle East.
The U.S. Central Command, which oversees all U.S. military operations in the Middle East, said it had struck “dozens” of Iranian targets, including air defense systems, on the sixth consecutive night of attacks on Iran.
President Donald Trump has threatened to strike critical infrastructure, like power plants and bridges, in Iran if Tehran refuses to come back to the negotiating table after talks to secure a permanent peace deal and reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane stalled.
Airstrikes on both sides resumed nearly a week ago after the ceasefire agreed upon in June disintegrated, attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz continuing to wreak havoc with global markets and fuel prices.
Iran’s grip on the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supply has typically flowed, has become its main bargaining chip in talks with a U.S. desperate to fully reopen the narrow waterway to commercial shipping.
The U.K.’s Maritime Trade Operations Centre, backed by the British military, said on Friday a tanker was attacked close to the Omani coast, but no injuries were reported and the vessel was carrying on its journey after sustaining “minor” damage.
“Full control of the Strait of Hormuz remains in the hands of our brave warriors, and as long as America’s evil deeds continue, not a single drop of oil or gas will be exported from this region,” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said on Friday.
Iran does not control the SoH [Strait of Hormuz],” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday. Trump said in his prime-time address on Thursday the U.S. was “winning big in Iran, and you will see the fruits of that labor very, very shortly.”
U.S. airstrikes on southern Iran’s Hormozgan province killed at least seven people and damaged seven bridges, state media reported.
US Strikes Port Hub Where Iranian Naval Forces Are Based
The U.S. targeted the city of Bandar Khamir, which is perched on the edge of the Strait of Hormuz, and bridges connecting up to the port hub of Bandar Abbas, according to Iranian media. Many of Iran’s naval forces are based in the city.
The IRGC said the U.S. had also hit a water pumping center in Bandar Abbas, with power lines in the city and surrounding areas also damaged. Widespread travel disruption hit Bandar Abbas on Friday because of “damage to rail infrastructure,” the IRNA state news agency reported.
The strikes “completely destroyed” a naval tower at the Chabahar port in the Gulf of Oman, according to state media. Hegseth shared an image to social media, showing the tower collapsing.
IRNA separately reported a U.S. airstrike hitting the western province of Lorestan had knocked out some phone and internet connections.
Iran, meanwhile, said on Friday Iranian forces retaliated by attacking U.S. radar sites in Oman, as well as U.S. bases in Kuwait and Bahrain.
Qatar, a key mediator between the U.S. and Iran, said it had shot down Iranian attacks early on Friday. A child was injured by falling shrapnel from an intercepted missile.
Kuwait said one of its power and water desalination plants had been set on fire by an Iranian strike and teams were trying to get the station back online.
Many Gulf states source more than 90 percent of their drinking water from desalination plants, making them critical to the population of these countries.
Deliberate attacks on civilians and non-military infrastructure are generally banned under several international agreements designed to limit the horrors of war, like the Geneva Conventions and the United Nations Charter.
The Geneva Conventions rule out targeting sites that are “indispensable to the survival of the civilian population.”
US Jets and Refueling Tankers Targeted in Jordan
Bridges, water plants, and power-generating facilities are typically off-limits under international law, and strikes on these facilities can sometimes be deemed a war crime.
Iran said it had penned a letter to the United Nations, calling attacks on Iranian civilian infrastructure a “serious violation of international humanitarian law and constitute war crimes.”
The IRGC also claimed responsibility for an attack on a U.S. special forces command center in Syria, close to the Jordanian border.
The Iranian military said the “surprise” attack was a response to the deaths of seven Iranian soldiers in a U.S. strike on a barracks in the southern city of Iranshahr earlier this week.
Jordan said it had shot down three Iranian missiles on Friday. No one was reported injured.
The IRGC said it had targeted U.S. fighter jets and refueling tankers in Jordan using “several ballistic missiles and numerous drones,” claiming to have destroyed multiple aircraft and damaged “many” others.
Eight people were reportedly killed in the city of Sulaymaniyah, in the east of Iraqi Kurdistan, in an attack Kurdish troops blamed on Iran. Eight drones were shot down over the Iraqi city of Erbil, according to Kurdish forces.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Francis Mao and Yannick Demoustier.
2026 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
This story was originally published July 17, 2026 at 5:42 AM.