The United States military has launched a seventh consecutive night of strikes against Iran, marking a significant escalation in a conflict centered on the Strait of Hormuz. According to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), the latest operations began at 19:00 GMT on Friday and are intended to continue degrading Iranian military capabilities.
The ongoing hostilities have effectively collapsed an interim deal that was intended to keep the vital shipping channel open and provide a framework for a permanent truce. As the conflict intensifies, both nations have traded accusations of targeting civilian infrastructure, raising international alarm regarding the humanitarian and economic stability of the Gulf region.
Escalation and Strategic Infrastructure
The current wave of U.S. strikes has increasingly focused on infrastructure, including bridges, railway lines, and electrical facilities. In the early hours of Saturday, explosions were reported in the central city of Yazd, the southern city of Sirik, and several other southern provinces. Earlier reports confirmed damage to a tower at the port of Chabahar—a facility the U.S. military claimed was used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to facilitate attacks on vessels—as well as strikes on Iranshahr airport.
Tehran has denounced these actions as war crimes, asserting that Washington is targeting civilian infrastructure. Iranian state media has released footage showing damaged bridges and rail lines in the country’s south. The Iranian energy ministry has urged citizens to ration electricity and reduce air conditioning usage, citing strain on the power grid caused by the strikes.
Retaliatory Strikes Across the Gulf
The IRGC also claimed to have struck a depot housing U.S. unmanned aerial vehicles in Bahrain late Friday, though Washington has not confirmed this specific attack.
Threats of Full-Scale Offensive
The rhetoric surrounding the conflict has hardened significantly. Major-General Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser to the Iranian supreme leader, warned on Friday that Tehran is prepared to move beyond retaliatory measures. According to the Iranian news agency IRIB, Rezaei stated that if U.S. strikes do not cease within two or three days, Iran will resume full-scale offensive operations.
Iran will no longer limit itself to retaliatory, like-for-like responses, and no political border will be safe,
Rezaei said. The IRGC echoed this sentiment in a statement, warning that countries hosting U.S. bases would pay a devastating price
if the targeting of Iranian civilian infrastructure continues.
Stakes in the Strait of Hormuz
The conflict, which began on February 28 following joint U.S.-Israeli strikes, centers on control of the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that previously handled approximately one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas supply. Following the collapse of the interim agreement, Iran has closed the strait, and the U.S. has reimposed a blockade on Iranian ports and vessels. The economic and humanitarian risks are high. As the violence enters its second week, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed “deep concernover the escalation, characterizing attacks on civilian infrastructure as
unacceptable.”
Worth a look
