Attacks by the U.S. and Iran intensify across the Middle East

The United States launched new airstrikes against Iran early Thursday, and Tehran responded by targeting Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar in crossfire that again threatened an interim deal intended to help end the war in the Persian Gulf.

Back-and-forth attacks, including a day earlier, have repeatedly threatened the ceasefire. But Thursday’s attacks appeared bigger all around, with sirens sounding at least twice in Bahrain, home to the U.S. navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters and missiles targeting Kuwait and Qatar. Sirens sounded Thursday afternoon in Jordan as well, where the U.S. has stationed troops and aircraft.

An Iranian official accused the U.S. of launching an airstrike later Thursday targeting the area around Iran’s sole nuclear power plant, and other explosions were reported elsewhere in the country during the afternoon.

The strikes came hours after U.S. President Donald Trump said recent Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz signalled the end of the fragile ceasefire and threatened to escalate the conflict if they didn’t stop.

That raised concerns that the region could tip back into a war that would engulf several countries and could halt energy shipments through the strait that are crucial for the global economy.

In Iran, the two days of American airstrikes have killed at least 14 people and wounded another 78, Iran’s Health Ministry said Thursday. The Fars news agency said one U.S. strike hit a rail bridge ⁠used for trade with Russia and China.

In Kuwait, the military said falling debris wounded one person as it shot down three ballistic missiles, a cruise missile and 10 drones. Bahrain said it shot down incoming fire, without elaborating, and Jordanian government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said all incoming fire from Iran had been intercepted. Iranian state TV said the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard fired missiles at a U.S. base in Jordan.

There was no immediate word of damage in Qatar.

Iran’s army said in a statement ‌released by state media that it had launched attacks at U.S. Patriot systems in Kuwait, an early-warning site in Qatar and a U.S. Army fuel depot in Bahrain.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Canada stood with the Gulf countries and called the Iran attacks “completely unjustified,” while speaking to reporters in Saudi Arabia, as part of a government delegation led by Prime Minister Mark Carney.

The foreign ministers of Turkey and Oman stressed the need to avoid further military escalation in separate calls with their Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araqchi. Qatar, which hosts the largest U.S. base in the region and has often mediated between Washington and its adversaries, including Tehran, condemned attacks on commercial shipping ⁠but also called for a return to diplomacy.

The U.S. military’s Central Command said it hit some 90 targets across Iran, releasing black-and-white footage of what appeared to be strikes on an airport runway and missile launchers.

The U.S. says the strikes were intended to “further degrade” Iran’s ability “to threaten freedom of navigation” in the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas passed before the war began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Feb. 28.

Traffic has picked up somewhat since a tentative deal last month included opening the waterway. Maritime data company Lloyd’s List Intelligence said Thursday that preliminary data showed at least 576 ships passed through the strait in June, compared to 233 in May. More than 3,100 transited the strait in June 2025.

Attacks on ships — and the threat of such strikes — virtually halted traffic in the waterway during the conflict, causing oil prices to skyrocket and raising the cost of food and other basic goods far beyond the region.

Iranian state media reported explosions in several locations, including Bushehr, home to Iran’s nuclear power plant complex, and the southern port cities of Chabahar, Konarak, Bandar Abbas and Sirik.

The state-run IRNA news agency quoted Ehsan Jahanian, a local official in Bushehr, as accusing the U.S. of striking near the plant around noon, hours after the U.S. military’s Central Command said it had ended its latest round of strikes on Iran. Asked for comment on Bushehr, Central Command referred to a news release that detailed targets but made no mention of the nuclear power plant.

During the war, several strikes hit the area around the plant but didn’t damage it.

Strikes target Iran bridges

For the first time since April, it also appeared the U.S. strikes targeted Iranian bridges. State media reported a strike on a railway bridge in Iran’s northeastern Golestan province, and the Revolutionary Guard said two bridges had been attacked on the route to Mashhad, where officials buried the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei early Friday.

Khamenei is only the second ruler of the nation to be buried in the city of Mashhad. In 1747, Nader Shah was buried in the city after he was assassinated following nearly 11 years in power.

Khamenei’s funeral processions began on Saturday, with authorities shutting down streets, airspace and daily life in Tehran, Iran’s capital, and other cities, as throngs commemorated the man who led Iran for decades with an iron fist while confronting the West.

They reached the country’s holiest shrine with a huge crowd packing the courtyard, some bearing banners denouncing the U.S. president and reading, “We Will Kill Trump.”

After leaving a NATO summit in Turkey, Trump posted several videos on his social media site of what he said were explosions in Iran and issued another warning to the Islamic Republic.

“This is in retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!” Trump wrote.

Trump had said earlier in the day that the latest back-and-forth fighting would not result in “long-term” military action.

“Anything that happens is going to happen very fast,” Trump said, though he also suggested the U.S. military might “just finish the job.”

Trump also renewed his past threats to hit Iran’s civilian infrastructure, including electric plants and desalinization plants, and to seize the oil-production hub of Kharg Island.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a key negotiator in talks seeking a permanent end to the war, was defiant in a post on X on Thursday morning: “America still hasn’t learned that bullying and breaking promises are no longer cost-free. Let me put it plainly: If you strike, you’ll get hit.”

After three tankers were hit Tuesday, the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, and Iranian forces retaliated by targeting American military sites in the Persian Gulf.

Iran has asserted that the interim ceasefire deal gives it the right to manage traffic through the strait.

Trump fuelled concerns that the war could restart by saying the interim agreement to pause fighting was “over,” although he added that he would allow negotiations to continue.

Attacks have repeatedly threatened the shaky ceasefire, but Trump’s comments added new uncertainty, and oil prices shot up after he spoke. A renewed conflict could engulf the wider Middle East and would likely again halt energy shipments through the strait.