{"id":698812,"date":"2026-07-18T18:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T18:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/698812\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T18:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T18:46:10","slug":"iran-attacks-us-allies-in-middle-east-as-renewed-conflict-enters-second-week-us-israel-war-on-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/698812\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran attacks US allies in Middle East as renewed conflict enters second week | US-Israel war on Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran launched a wave of attacks against US allies in the Middle East, as the renewal of US strikes on Iran<\/a> entered a second week and fighting escalated over the strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

Kuwait has accused Iran of targeting civilian sites and vital infrastructure in the country, such as a power and water desalination plant. Kuwait<\/a>, which is extremely arid, relies on desalinated water for about 90% of its drinking water.<\/p>\n

The country was forced to briefly close its airspace as it intercepted Iranian missiles and drones, and said several Kuwaiti firefighters and a worker were injured while battling blazes sparked by Iranian strikes.<\/p>\n

Bahrain also activated its air sirens on Saturday, warning residents to shelter after it detected possible incoming drones or missiles, while Jordan\u2019s state-run Petra news agency said that the kingdom\u2019s air defence systems had downed Iranian missiles. Two US military<\/a> personnel were killed in Jordan on Friday defending an Iranian attack, \u200bUS Central \u2060Command said \u200bin a statement \u200bon \u200bSaturday.<\/p>\n

The Iranian attacks on US allies in the region came in response to US attacks on civilian infrastructure including bridges and power facilities.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, on Saturday warned of \u201cunforgettable lessons\u201d if the US continues attacks.<\/p>\n

The statement attributed to Khamenei, still unseen since the war began, was read out on state television.<\/p>\n

A satellite image shows smoke billowing near an oil facility in Ahmadi governorate, Kuwait on 18 July. Photograph: European Union\/Copernicus Sentinel-2\/Reuters<\/p>\n

The secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council condemned Iran\u2019s attacks on Kuwait, saying strikes on civilian infrastructure amounted to \u201cwar crimes\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran\u2019s actions constitute a highly dangerous escalation, a grave violation of international law and the United Nations (UN) Charter, as well as war crimes requiring international accountability and prosecution, given the deliberate targeting of infrastructure and civilian facilities,\u201d Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Reports also indicate Iran targeted an oil facility in Kuwait, resulting in a number of injuries and \u201csignificant material losses\u201d, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe repeated targeting of these vital facilities reveals a systematic hostile approach targeting civilian sites and vital infrastructure that endangers the lives and safety of civilians,\u201d the foreign ministry of Kuwait said.<\/p>\n

Late on Friday, Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said two oil tankers directed by \u201cdeceptive American intelligence agencies\u201d had exploded after hitting mines in the strait of Hormuz. The US military said that claim was false.<\/p>\n

The IRGC also said on state television they had \u201cstopped\u201d four ships trying to transit the critical waterway, and had destroyed at least two US fighter aircraft and three other aircraft during a missile and drone attack early on Saturday on a US base in Azraq, Jordan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A US military support centre at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait was hit and a US radar facility at Ali Al Salem airbase in the country was destroyed, the IRGC said.<\/p>\n

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The IRGC also targeted a site in Bahrain<\/a> where US combat aircraft were gathered at Sheikh Isa airbase and an intelligence datacentre, Iranian state media reported.<\/p>\n

A screengrab from video released by US Central Command on 17 July shows a military jet launching what the US military says was a strike on Iranian military targets. Photograph: US Central Command (CENTCOM)\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

US Central Command said that its strikes, which began at 7pm last night for the seventh consecutive night<\/a>, were designed to \u201ccontinue degrading Iranian military capabilities\u201d.<\/p>\n

The US managed to hit Iranian \u201csurveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities\u201d overnight, US military said on Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

Iranian media reported explosions heard or strikes carried out in the cities of Sirik, Ahvaz and Yazd.<\/p>\n

US strikes have killed 50 people and wounded more than 500 since hostilities resumed, according to Iran\u2019s health ministry. The country acknowledged there had been successful US \u201cattacks on power infrastructure\u201d for the first time on Friday when the Iranian energy ministry issued a call for people to use less power in southern provinces \u201cexperiencing extreme heat\u201d. The ministry did not specify what was hit.<\/p>\n

Maj Gen Mohsen Rezaee, a senior military adviser to Iran\u2019s supreme leader, said Tehran will resume \u201cfull-scale offensive operations\u201d if US strikes against it continue for another two or three days.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran will no longer limit itself to retaliatory, like-for-like responses \u2026 and no political border will be safe,\u201d Rezaei said, according to the Iranian news agency IRIB.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran launched a wave of attacks against US allies in the Middle East, as the renewal of US…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-698812","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\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}