New US Strikes on Iran Enter Sixth Day
The United States has launched strikes against Iran for the sixth consecutive night, targeting infrastructure in the south of the country, according to local media reports. The US military stated it had commenced the latest round of attacks on Thursday evening local time, whilst Iranian media reported explosions and strikes in Qeshm Island, Bandar Abbas, Chabahar, Iranshahr, and Bandar-e Khamir.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that a US missile strike targeted an airport in Iranshahr. Another US strike hit a communications tower in Bandar Abbas, causing power outages in the area. The Fars news agency reported a suspected US attack on a bridge in Bandar-e Khamir. ISNA reported that a railway junction station in Bandar Abbas was targeted, resulting in two injuries but no significant damage to infrastructure. Fars also reported that two people were killed and eight others injured in a US strike that hit the Kehvarstan Bridge and a residential area in Bandar Abbas. State broadcaster IRIB claimed that HIMARS surface-to-surface missiles were fired from Kuwait towards Iran. The fatalities bring the total death toll to 38 since the US resumed its strikes.
The attacks come days after US President Donald Trump threatened to strike Iranian infrastructure, marking the latest warning sign for a temporary agreement signed by both parties last month. Since then, each side has accused the other of violating the memorandum of understanding amid escalating tensions over the past week. Earlier on Thursday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed to have launched an attack on an airbase used by US forces in Bahrain, describing it as a response to what it called a ‘barbaric’ US strike that forced the evacuation of a children’s cancer hospital in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz. The IRGC also claimed to have carried out follow-up attacks targeting Kuwait and Jordan. The Kuwaiti army stated that the Iranian attack involved 32 drones and targeted vital facilities, causing material damage. Iranian military spokesman Mohammad Akraminia warned that Iran’s strikes would ‘expand to new areas’ if US attacks on Iran continued.