US strikes hit Tehran as Iran attacks bases in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait

Dubai,UPDATED: Jul 16, 2026 14:10 IST

The United States stepped up its strikes on Iran early on Thursday, hitting targets further north and around Tehran for the first time in the latest round of fighting, while also firing on a tanker it said was trying to break its naval blockade of Iran. Iran responded before dawn with missile and drone attacks targeting Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait, countries that host US forces, and warned that its attacks could intensify.

The fresh exchanges have further undermined the interim deal meant to end the war and have renewed fears of a wider conflict across the Middle East. Iranian officials said US strikes have killed more than 35 people and wounded over 300. The latest fighting has also kept the focus on the Strait of Hormuz, where disruption to shipping has pushed up the prices of oil, fertiliser and other goods.

Iranian state media said the US strikes early Thursday hit areas around Tehran and also targeted Semnan province, home to Iran's ballistic missile production and space programme. Iranian media also reported strikes around Hamedan, Hormozgan, Khuzestan, Lorestan, Markazi, and Sistan and Baluchistan provinces. On Wednesday, the US had resumed strikes during daylight, including an attack on Greater Tunb Island, a strategic point in the Strait of Hormuz, where US Central Command said Iranian defence and missile sites were targeted.

The US military also said it opened fire on the Curacao-flagged oil tanker Belma as it sailed towards Kharg Island, Iran's main oil export terminal in the Persian Gulf. After the ship, it said, ignored multiple warnings, a US aircraft disabled the merchant vessel by firing a missile into its smokestack. Another US strike on Wednesday hit a barracks of Iran's 388th Mechanised Infantry Brigade in Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iranian state television reported. It said at least 13 missiles were fired in that attack and that seven people, including conscripts and career soldiers, were killed, while others were wounded.

Iran's retaliation included missile and drone attacks on Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait, though there was no immediate acknowledgement of damage or casualties. In Iraq, Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi condemned an overnight drone attack on Irbil in the country's semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region. Authorities said the drone was intercepted. The incident came during al-Zaidi's visit to the US, where he said Iraq would work to disarm non-state armed groups, including those backed by Iran.

When the US and Israel launched the war on Iran on February 28, Tehran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic, giving it leverage in negotiations and driving up global prices. The latest round of fighting is centred on the strait, as Iran has attacked ships using a US-controlled route through the waterway. The US has threatened to reopen it by force, though experts say that would require a much larger naval deployment, if not tens of thousands of ground troops. Brent crude traded above USD 85 a barrel on Thursday, more than 15 per cent higher than before the war, though still below the nearly USD 120 seen at the height of the conflict.

Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for the Iranian military's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, warned that Iran could launch widespread attacks on regional infrastructure if the US carries out President Donald Trump's repeated threats to hit Iranian bridges and power plants. "All the infrastructure in the region will be crushed under the steel blows of the powerful armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran" if Trump's threat is carried out, Zolfaghari said. "Under no circumstances and in no way will we allow America, as a foreign and extra-regional country, to interfere in the Strait of Hormuz," he added. "This is Iran's invincible red line."

Trump, however, said a peace deal was still possible even as Washington reimposed the naval blockade on Wednesday after struggling to reopen the waterway. Mediators have tried to calm tensions but have so far failed. "They don't like what we're doing, and they do want to settle. We'll find out whether or not we settle with them, or we just finish it off," Trump said on Wednesday at the US Army War College in Pennsylvania. He also said on social media that Tehran had made a goodwill gesture by releasing an American citizen detained in Iran since 2024. Human rights lawyer Jared Genser later identified her as his client Dena Karari, a US-Iranian citizen who runs a nonprofit and had been charged with espionage. Iran did not immediately acknowledge the release, and her case had not been publicly known.

With US strikes expanding to new areas, Iran widening its response, and the Strait of Hormuz again at the centre of the confrontation, the latest exchanges have deepened fears of a broader regional war even as Trump maintains that a settlement remains possible.

With PTI Inputs

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