{"id":808866,"date":"2026-07-18T20:31:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T20:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/808866\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T20:31:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T20:31:15","slug":"middle-east-war-iran-launches-renewed-attacks-on-us-gulf-allies-following-week-of-american-strikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/808866\/","title":{"rendered":"Middle East war: Iran launches renewed attacks on US Gulf allies following week of American strikes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jana Choukeir and Enas Alashray<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"article-datetime\" class=\"sc-5cbbddda-5 hxoHkT\">Updated July 18, 2026 \u2014 5:13pm,first published 10:33am<\/p>\n<p>Save<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-d1b14060-4 JmUoF\">You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n<p>Remove items from your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/goodfood\/saved\" class=\"sc-3f16ee48-12 sc-d1b14060-2 jyLmZI iQLtAb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n<p>AAA<\/p>\n<p>Dubai\/Cairo: Iran launched renewed attacks on US Gulf allies on Saturday after a seventh straight night of American strikes targeting Iranian military sites including logistics infrastructure, escalating the war a week after a fragile ceasefire agreement fell apart.<\/p>\n<p>Kuwait came under sustained attack, with a desalination plant hit and operations at Kuwait International Airport suspended due to repeated missile and drone threats.<\/p>\n<p>Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards said they struck a US military support centre at Camp Arifjan and destroyed a radar facility at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait.<\/p>\n<p>Iranian state media reported that in Bahrain, the Revolutionary Guards targeted a site where US combat aircraft were gathered at Sheikh Isa Air Base and an intelligence data centre. Reuters was not able to verify the reports.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince there is no international institution to prevent the savagery of the US military, we have no path before us except the Quranic command: \u2018Whoever attacks you, attack it in the same manner\u2019,\u201d the Guards said in a statement warning US allies in the region to expect more strikes.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, both sides also took aim at shipping traffic, with the US saying it was enforcing a naval blockade while Iran said it targeted vessels that violated its rules on navigating the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway for one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil supply.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"US President Donald Trump in New York on Friday.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/601780442fed87449e852f1fd42f2ae004737206.jpeg\"  class=\"sc-d34e428-1 ldCIuB\"\/>US President Donald Trump in New York on Friday.AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin<\/p>\n<p>Oil prices climbed more than 4 per cent on Friday to their highest level in more than a month, applying political pressure on US President Donald Trump as his Republican Party tries to hold on to power in November congressional elections.<\/p>\n<p>Washington and Tehran have been testing the limits of escalation since their ceasefire agreement collapsed last week, raising the prospect of a return to all-out war.<\/p>\n<p>Civilian infrastructure was increasingly being subjected to attack despite concerns about potential war crimes.<\/p>\n<p>Iranian media reported that several missiles struck power facilities and desalination pumps in the southern city of Jask on Saturday, citing a local official. Some 10,000 people in 20 villages were without water, Tasnim news agency reported.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>A power generation and water desalination plant in Kuwait was hit in an Iranian attack, the country\u2019s Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy Ministry said in a statement. It was the second attack on Kuwaiti water desalination sites in two days.<\/p>\n<p>The US military\u2019s Central Command earlier said it concluded its latest round of attacks by hitting surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage and maritime capabilities.<\/p>\n<p>United Nations Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres was concerned about the escalation, particularly \u201cattacks on civilian infrastructure in Iran and across the region\u201d, his spokesperson said on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Related Article<a href=\"https:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/world\/middle-east\/trump-sets-sights-on-irans-hidden-nuclear-fortress-20260716-p60frt.html\" tabindex=\"-1\" class=\"sc-cba76dee-0 hdiTqm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A satellite image shows vehicles at the western tunnel entrance to Iran\u2019s secretive Pickaxe Mountain complex.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1c02ea50fe7090d43e8857bd53bd90ff85754786.jpeg\"  class=\"sc-d34e428-1 ioInpc\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Iranian media reported strikes early on Saturday in Hormozgan Province on the Strait of Hormuz. State TV said three people were killed and eight wounded while two bridges and a road tunnel were damaged.<\/p>\n<p>A day earlier, Iranian state media said US strikes hit at least five bridges in the south. Seven people were reported killed in attacks on bridges in the southern port of Bandar Khamir, where a train station was also hit. An airport was reported hit further east in Iranshahr.<\/p>\n<p>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<p>US officials have said attacks on southern Iran are designed in part to give Trump options. Such moves risk provoking Iran to attack the vital infrastructure of vulnerable Gulf states, or having its allies in Yemen further disrupt global energy supplies by attacking shipping from the Red Sea.<\/p>\n<p>Reuters<\/p>\n<p>Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what\u2019s making headlines around the world. <a class=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/newsletter-signup?newsletter=trump-biden-2020&amp;utm_source=EditorialArticle&amp;utm_medium=ArticleText&amp;utm_campaign=Newsletters\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Save<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-d1b14060-4 JmUoF\">You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n<p>Remove items from your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/goodfood\/saved\" class=\"sc-3f16ee48-12 sc-d1b14060-2 jyLmZI iQLtAb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n<p>From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jana Choukeir and Enas Alashray Updated July 18, 2026 \u2014 5:13pm,first published 10:33am Save You have reached your&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":808867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-808866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/808867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}