The United States conducted a sixth consecutive night of airstrikes on Iran overnight into Friday, hitting two bridges, a railway station and an airport in the country’s south and southeast, according to Iranian state media. The attacks on Bandar Khamir, Bandar Abbas and Iranshahr killed at least seven people and wounded dozens, Iranian officials said, marking an expansion of the campaign to infrastructure after President Donald Trump threatened to target bridges and power plants. In parallel, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and military said they launched ballistic missiles and explosive drones at US airbases and radar installations in Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman, with several Gulf states confirming interceptions and air-raid alerts.

Viewed from Washington, the strikes aim to “degrade Iran’s ability to threaten innocent mariners” in the Strait of Hormuz, according to US Central Command (CENTCOM), which said its forces hit dozens of military targets including coastal surveillance, air-defence sites and maritime facilities. The White House has reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports and, in a primetime address, Trump insisted the US was “winning big in Iran”. Tehran’s military headquarters, by contrast, warned that if American forces strike Iranian infrastructure, “all infrastructure in the region will become legitimate targets”, and accused Washington of a “barbaric” attack near a children’s cancer hospital in Ahvaz. Pakistan, which mediated a preliminary memorandum of understanding last month, called on both sides to resume technical-level talks, but Iran’s lead negotiator said the deal “only has meaning when its clauses are valid and being implemented”.

The immediate toll, as reported by Iran’s health ministry, stands at 38 dead and over 400 wounded since the current wave of US strikes began on 22 June. The targeting of bridges, a railway junction and an airport in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted ground transport links and drawn international legal scrutiny, with experts noting that attacks on objects indispensable to the civilian population may violate the Geneva Conventions. The US military also confirmed it had disabled an empty oil tanker attempting to breach the blockade, while maritime data shows week-to-week cargo transits through the strait have dropped by almost a quarter, further tightening global energy markets.

The renewed hostilities follow the collapse of a ceasefire and interim deal signed in June, which had briefly reopened the strait after Iran closed it at the outbreak of war on 28 February, when the US and Israel launched massive strikes on the Islamic Republic. The waterway, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and gas transited in peacetime, remains at the centre of the conflict: Tehran has vowed to keep it closed “until the US ends its aggression”, while Washington insists it will maintain the blockade and continue strikes until Iran returns to negotiations. With both sides issuing maximalist threats and no active diplomatic track, the dossier remains deadlocked, and further escalation is expected as US naval forces enforce the cordon and Iranian-aligned groups signal readiness to open new fronts.