ISLAMABAD: The United States and Iran exchanged fresh attacks overnight, extending their conflict into a seventh consecutive night as both sides widened military operations across the Gulf and intensified pressure on regional energy routes.
What happened overnight?
The US military said it carried out strikes against Iranian surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage facilities, and maritime capabilities. US Central Command said fighter aircraft, drones, warships, and other military assets participated in the operation.
Iran responded by launching attacks targeting US facilities in Kuwait and Jordan, according to Iranian state media, while also announcing new measures affecting maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian media reported that missiles struck power facilities and desalination pumps in the southern port city of Jask, disrupting drinking water supplies to several nearby villages. State television said three people were killed and eight others wounded in Hormozgan Province, where two bridges and a road tunnel were also damaged.
Additional explosions were reported in Sirik, Ahvaz, Yazd, Jask, and Khorramabad, according to Iranian media.
The latest exchange comes one week after a ceasefire between Washington and Tehran collapsed, leading to renewed military operations across the region.
How is the conflict affecting regional security?
US Central Command said American forces enforced a naval blockade by redirecting four commercial vessels, disabling one vessel, and boarding another during maritime operations.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it stopped four vessels that it accused of violating Iranian navigation rules in the Strait of Hormuz using missiles and drones. Iranian media also reported that two oil tankers caught fire after passing through what it described as a mined route south of the strait, a claim the US military dismissed as false.
Separately, armed men seized another commercial vessel off Yemen, raising fresh concerns over security in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, another critical maritime chokepoint for global energy shipments.
Iranian state television quoted the IRGC as saying exports of oil, gas, and chemical fertilizers from the region would remain disrupted until what it described as US aggression ends.
Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned against further US escalation or any attempt to seize Iranian territory.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed concern over the escalating conflict, particularly attacks on civilian infrastructure in Iran and elsewhere in the region.
Oil prices climbed more than 4% on Friday to their highest level in more than a month as markets reacted to the heightened risks facing shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that carries roughly one-fifth of global oil supplies.
US President Donald Trump has warned that Washington could expand strikes against Iranian infrastructure and has not ruled out broader military options. US officials said recent operations in southern Iran are intended to preserve additional military options should the conflict continue to escalate.