US and Iran trade fresh strikes as Strait of Hormuz battle widens

Dubai,UPDATED: Jul 18, 2026 15:00 IST

The United States and Iran exchanged fresh strikes on Saturday, targeting infrastructure and military sites as their battle over the Strait of Hormuz intensified. The fighting has widened its impact across the region, with Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan and Bahrain all reporting missile or drone threats, while shipping through the strait remained sharply reduced.

The latest attacks came after the collapse of an interim ceasefire, leaving no clear end in sight to the war that the US and Israel began more than four months ago. The conflict is increasingly centred on control of the strait, with oil prices rising and vessel crossings dropping as both sides seek to shape the fight on land and at sea.

The US Central Command said early on Saturday that its seventh straight night of strikes had hit "surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities". Iranian state television said US airstrikes hit an electricity and desalination plant in Bonji, a village in southern Hormozgan province on Iran's coast along the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran's state-run news agency said overnight strikes also damaged two tunnels and a bridge, disrupting one of the main highways towards Bandar Abbas, near the narrowest part of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran also reported strikes on Qeshm Island inside the strait. A day earlier, Iranian state media said the US had struck highways and railway bridges, apparently to cut off Bandar Abbas, Iran's main port, from routes leading into the country's central region and onwards to Tehran.

Iran acknowledged attacks on its power network for the first time on Friday, when its Energy Ministry asked people in southern provinces "experiencing extreme heat" to reduce electricity use. The ministry did not say what had been hit. Iranian authorities said at least 46 people had been killed and more than 400 wounded in recent US strikes, including eight people killed in a bridge strike on Friday. On Saturday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stepped up its warning that countries hosting US forces should be "prepared to receive a corresponding response".

Across the Gulf, Kuwait said it intercepted Iranian missiles and drones and that a water desalination plant was hit, causing a fire. It was the second such attack in two days in the country, which relies on desalination for 90 per cent of its drinking water. The Kuwait Fire Force said several firefighters and a worker were injured while tackling two other blazes caused by Iranian strikes. Kuwait briefly shut its airspace in the morning because of missile threats, while Kuwait Airways said it was rescheduling most flights to and from the capital. Iraq said it shot down attack drones over Irbil. Jordan's state-run Petra news agency reported that the kingdom's air defence systems had downed Iranian missiles, and Bahrain said air raid sirens sounded several times.

US officials said 13 more American service members, 10 Army soldiers and three Navy sailors, had been injured since Monday, without giving further details. Since the war began, 14 US service members have been killed and 427 wounded. Iranian officials have said recent US strikes have killed dozens and wounded hundreds in Iran. In an address to the American public on Thursday evening, President Donald Trump said the war was going well. "We are likewise winning big in Iran, and you will see the fruits of that labor very, very shortly," he said. Before the war, the US had been in talks with Iran over its nuclear programme, and Trump now faces political pressure to end the conflict and avoid a prolonged Middle East war.

Iran has said the Strait of Hormuz should be under its sole control and that vessels should pay fees to Tehran, even though it has long been treated internationally as an international waterway. Iran effectively closed the strait to shipping after the war began on February 28, sending oil prices higher and giving Tehran leverage in negotiations. Oil rose above USD 86 a barrel on Friday, close to its highest level in a month, while crossings through the strait fell to a three-week low. MarineTraffic.com said just eight vessels crossed on Thursday. Trump has recently repeated threats to target Iranian power stations and bridges to force Iran to loosen its hold on the strait, through which about a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded once passed in peacetime. The US has also reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports to stop crude oil shipments, while pipelines are carrying more regional energy but not enough to make up for the drop in shipping through the strait.

Saturday's exchanges underlined how the war has moved beyond direct US-Iran strikes to affect transport, energy supplies and civilian infrastructure across the Gulf, even as both sides continue to trade attacks and the fight over the Strait of Hormuz remains at the centre of the conflict.

With PTI Inputs

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