Iran launched a fresh wave of attacks on U.S. military facilities across the Middle East on Friday, including what it described as its first direct strike on a target in Syria, as Washington pressed ahead with a sixth consecutive night of airstrikes on Iranian military sites.
The renewed fighting has all but erased the fragile truce reached last month, with both sides exchanging daily attacks that have disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and deepened fears of wider economic fallout.
The U.S. military said its latest operation targeted dozens of Iranian military positions on Qeshm Island and around Bandar Abbas, home to Iran’s largest commercial port. According to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), the strikes hit coastal surveillance systems, air defence positions, logistics infrastructure and naval assets used by Iran’s military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
“The operation was designed to further degrade Iran’s military capabilities used to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTCOM said in a statement.
Iranian media, meanwhile, reported that a civilian was killed in a U.S. strike near Pasabandar, close to the southeastern port city of Chabahar.
In response, Iran said it launched missiles and drones at U.S. military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait early Friday. Iranian state media also claimed the IRGC struck a U.S. special operations command centre at al-Tanf in Syria in retaliation for the killing of Iranian soldiers in Iranshahr.
If confirmed, it would mark Iran’s first direct military attack inside Syria since the latest phase of the conflict began.
Reuters could not independently verify the Iranian claims.
Witnesses in Doha reported hearing several explosions, while Qatar’s Interior Ministry said a child was injured by falling shrapnel.
Iranian state media also reported that U.S. strikes damaged five bridges, Bandar Khamir’s railway station and Iranshahr Airport in southeastern Iran. State news agency IRNA said seven people were killed after bridges in Bandar Khamir were hit.
The IRGC further claimed it destroyed a U.S. naval radar installation on the Salameh Rocks and an American air-control radar in Oman’s Ghannem area.
The latest escalation has once again brought shipping through the Strait of Hormuz the world’s most critical oil and gas transit route to a near standstill, sending oil prices higher and renewing concerns over global inflation and energy supplies.
Tehran has reinstated its blockade of the waterway, while Washington resumed its naval blockade of Iranian ports earlier this week.
Sources told Reuters that Iran could also encourage its Houthi allies in Yemen to target the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, another strategic maritime chokepoint linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, if U.S. attacks expand to Iranian infrastructure.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump would not tolerate attacks on commercial shipping.
“The president will not sit by and allow these acts of terrorism in the Strait of Hormuz without ensuring Iran faces consequences,” she said, while adding that Trump remained open to diplomacy.
Iranian officials insist they are seeking to enforce their authority over the Strait rather than derail the memorandum of understanding reached in June, which Tehran says largely met its objectives.
Under that agreement, Iran plans to require all vessels using the Strait to sail through a shipping corridor closer to its coastline before introducing transit fees after a 60-day negotiation period.
The United States has encouraged commercial vessels to use an alternative route along Oman’s coast instead.
Iranian Army spokesman Brigadier General Mohammad Akraminia dismissed U.S. efforts to weaken Tehran’s control over the waterway, saying Iran could target the Strait from anywhere within its territory.
President Trump has repeatedly threatened to expand military action if Tehran refuses to return to negotiations, warning that Iranian power plants, bridges and other strategic infrastructure could become targets. He has also left open the possibility of deploying ground forces, including a potential operation to seize Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export terminal.
Inside Iran, residents say the return of daily air raids has left many exhausted and fearful.
“Living with the constant fear that the war could start all over again is mentally draining. You cannot live like this,” said Mahlegha, a 46-year-old government employee in Tehran, who asked that only her first name be used for security reasons.
“I just want diplomacy to prevail.”
