US strikes reach Tehran as Iran targets Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait

Dubai,UPDATED: Jul 16, 2026 13:04 IST

The United States stepped up its strikes on Iran early Thursday, hitting targets further north, including areas around Tehran, as Washington also said its forces fired on a ship accused of trying to break a renewed naval blockade on the Islamic Republic. Iran responded before dawn with missile and drone attacks aimed at Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait, and warned that its attacks could intensify.

The latest exchange has deepened fears of a wider regional war and further damaged an interim deal aimed at ending the Iran conflict. Iranian officials said US strikes have killed more than 35 people and wounded over 300 others. The attacks reaching areas around Tehran for the first time in this latest phase also underlined a widening range of American targets.

When the US and Israel began the war on Iran on February 28, Tehran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, sending the prices of oil, fertiliser and many other goods sharply higher and giving Iran major leverage in negotiations. On Thursday, Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for the Iranian military's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, escalated Tehran's warning by referring to US President Donald Trump's repeated threat that America could 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."

The rising prices pose a challenge for Trump and his Republican Party ahead of the November elections, but Washington has struggled to reopen the waterway. Trump reimposed the naval blockade on Wednesday, while mediators tried without success to ease the tensions. Trump again said Iran was ready to strike a peace deal, though he did not give details. "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," he said on Wednesday at the US Army War College in Pennsylvania.

Trump also said on social media that Tehran had made a goodwill gesture by releasing an American citizen who had been detained in Iran since 2024. He gave no further details. Human rights lawyer Jared Genser later identified the detainee 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.

Iranian state media said the US strikes early Thursday hit areas around Tehran and also targeted Semnan province, which is 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 resumed striking Iran in daylight, underlining the increasing pace of the attacks. US Central Command said an attack on Greater Tunb Island, a strategic point in the Strait of Hormuz, targeted Iranian defence and missile sites. Separately, the US military 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 "ignored multiple warnings", a US aircraft disabled it by firing a missile into its smokestack.

Another American strike on Wednesday hit a barracks of Iran's 388th Mechanised Infantry Brigade in Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iranian state television reported. The report said the Americans fired at least 13 missiles and that seven people, including conscripts and career soldiers, were killed. A number of troops were also wounded.

Iran then retaliated on Thursday with missile and drone attacks on Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait, authorities in those countries, which host US forces, said. There was no immediate confirmation of damage or casualties. Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, meanwhile, condemned an overnight drone attack on Irbil in Iraq's semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region. Authorities said the drone was intercepted. The incident came during his visit to the US, where he said Iraq would work to disarm non-state armed groups, including those backed by Iran.

The Strait of Hormuz remains at the centre of the fighting. During the interim deal, some ships had begun moving through the passage on a route near Oman overseen by the US military and outside Tehran's control. In recent days, Iran attacked ships using that route, leading to further exchanges. The US has threatened to reopen the strait by force, though experts say that would require a much larger armada, if not tens of thousands of ground troops. Imposing the blockade is another way to put pressure on Iran.

Oil prices continued to reflect the strain. Brent crude, the international benchmark, traded above USD 85 a barrel on Thursday, more than 15 per cent above its level before the war, though still below the nearly USD 120 seen at the height of the conflict. With fresh US strikes around Tehran and other provinces, Iranian attacks on Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait, and renewed confrontation over the Strait of Hormuz, the latest round of fighting has further raised the risk of a wider regional war.

With PTI Inputs

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