Iran strikes Gulf states after seventh night of US attacks

DUBAI: Iran launched fresh attacks on US allies in the Gulf on Saturday after Washington carried out a seventh consecutive night of strikes on Iranian military facilities, further escalating the conflict a week after the collapse of a ceasefire.

Kuwait faced repeated missile and drone threats, forcing authorities to suspend operations at Kuwait International Airport. The country’s Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy Ministry said an Iranian attack hit a power generation and water desalination facility, marking the second strike on a Kuwaiti desalination site in two days.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it targeted a US military support centre at Camp Arifjan and destroyed a radar facility at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait.

The IRGC also claimed attacks on Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain, where US combat aircraft were gathered, and an intelligence data centre, according to Iranian state media.

Iranian state television reported that the Guards destroyed at least two US fighter jets and three other aircraft in an early-morning missile and drone attack on the US base in Al Azraq, Jordan. The claims could not be independently verified.

The attacks followed renewed US strikes on Iran. US Central Command said its latest operations targeted surveillance positions, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage facilities and maritime capabilities.

Civilian infrastructure has increasingly been affected by the conflict. Iranian media reported that missiles struck electricity facilities and desalination pumps in the southern city of Jask, leaving around 10,000 people across 20 villages without water.

Iranian state television also reported strikes in Hormozgan Province near the Strait of Hormuz, killing three people and wounding eight. Two bridges and a road tunnel were damaged.

A day earlier, Iranian media said US strikes hit at least five bridges in southern Iran. Seven people were reported killed in attacks on bridges in the port city of Bandar Khamir, where a railway station was also struck. An airport in Iranshahr was reportedly hit further east.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern over the escalation, particularly attacks on civilian infrastructure in Iran and elsewhere in the region, his spokesperson said on Friday.

The conflict has also intensified around major shipping routes. The United States said on Friday that it was enforcing a naval blockade, while Iran said it had targeted vessels that violated its navigation rules in the Strait of Hormuz.

The strait carries around one-fifth of the world’s oil supply. Oil prices rose more than 4% on Friday to their highest level in over a month, increasing political pressure on US President Donald Trump ahead of November’s congressional elections.

Trump has threatened broad air strikes against Iranian infrastructure and has not ruled out a ground operation targeting Iran’s coast or islands. US officials have said attacks on southern Iran are intended partly to preserve military options for the president.

Further escalation could expose critical infrastructure across Gulf states to additional attacks and increase the risk of disruption to global energy supplies, including through strikes on shipping in the Red Sea by Iran-aligned forces in Yemen.