US President Donald Trump has threatened to launch broad-based air strikes on Iran\u2019s infrastructure, and has also declined to rule out a ground assault on Iran\u2019s coast or islands.<\/p>\n
American officials have said attacks on southern Iran are designed in part to give Trump options.<\/p>\n
But such moves risk provoking Iran to escalate in turn by hitting infrastructure of neighbouring countries, or further disrupt energy supplies by having its allies in Yemen attack shipping from the Red Sea.<\/p>\n
The US military\u2019s Central Command included \u201cmilitary logistics infrastructure\u201d in the list of targets it said it struck in its latest attacks on Iran, the first time it has mentioned infrastructure in more than a week.<\/p>\n
For now, the attacks appeared to be limited mainly to southern coastal areas that have already been targeted intensively in recent days.<\/p>\n
Iranian state media said at least five bridges were struck in the south. Seven people were reported killed in attacks on bridges in the southern port of Bandar Khamir, where the train station was also hit.<\/p>\n
An airport was reported hit farther east and away from the coast in Iranshahr, in a province bordering Pakistan.<\/p>\n
![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ecd4a6bc0e2c5bb8d462a5bb79230dc6a5d264317e7006a6f64a7f21ae1f72ec.webp\")
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People standing near a damaged portion of a bridge in the aftermath of a strike, in Bandar Khamir, Hormozgan province, Iran July 16.<\/p>\n
PHOTO: REUTERS<\/p>\n
Iran said it struck US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain<\/a>, and a US radar station in Oman. Explosions were also heard in the Qatari capital Doha, where the Interior Ministry said a child was wounded by shrapnel.<\/p>\n Iran said it fired at Syria, apparently for the first time in the war, targeting what it described as a US special forces base in Tanf. Syria said US forces pulled out of the base there earlier in 2026.<\/p>\n A Syrian military source said the strike hit near the base and caused no damage or casualties.<\/p>\n An interim agreement to end the war collapsed on July 7, when Iran struck ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and the United States responded with air strikes.<\/p>\n The renewed fighting has once again largely halted traffic through the world\u2019s most important energy shipping route, sending oil prices surging<\/a> to around US$85 a barrel this week.<\/p>\n Iran has announced the closure of the strait, and Washington has reimposed its own blockade of Iranian ports.<\/p>\n In the latest incidents at sea, the US military said it boarded the tanker Wen Yao to enforce the blockade, releasing photos of Marines rappelling down from a helicopter onto the deck where one posed in front of an Iranian flag.<\/p>\n The British maritime security service UKMTO reported a tanker was hit by a projectile on July 16 off the coast of Oman.<\/p>\n While both sides have exchanged strikes daily, they have so far stopped short of escalating beyond parameters set earlier in the war, when civilian infrastructure and major economic targets were mostly deemed out of bounds because of the threat of retaliation.<\/p>\n Iran has said that it will attack civilian infrastructure across the Middle East if Trump follows through on threats to attack Iran\u2019s infrastructure.<\/p>\n