United States Bombs Iran's Ports, Bridges and Power Grid for a Ninth Night as Iran Strikes Five Gulf States and Declares Hormuz Closed

The United States has moved from weighing strikes to an active bombing campaign against Iran's energy, transport and port infrastructure, and Al Jazeera reported a ninth consecutive night of American strikes as fighting spread beyond the Strait of Hormuz. A surveillance tower at Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman collapsed after repeated strikes on the facility, according to Gulf News, and the Boston Globe reported that the campaign hit the civilian airport at Iranshahr, at least six bridges in Hormozgan province, water pumping stations and power facilities. Iran's health ministry reported at least 38 people killed and more than 400 wounded, and Iran's energy ministry asked residents of the south to conserve electricity as the strikes strained the grid during extreme summer heat.

Iran retaliated with missiles and drones against its Gulf neighbors. The National reported attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait, and Naharnet reported that the strikes also reached Oman and Jordan, where air defenses intercepted incoming missiles, in addition to Qatar. Tehran declared the Strait of Hormuz closed, and Brent crude rose back above $90 a barrel as markets priced in the risk of a sustained disruption to shipping through the waterway.

The campaign confirms the target set that earlier reporting had described. The Israeli outlet Ynet, citing CBS News, had reported that planners weighed "significant strikes" on power stations and oil refineries and that some of President Donald Trump's advisers objected, while the Wall Street Journal and CBS said a campaign could last several days. Iran had said it would respond to any strike on its energy sites. Iranian state media had framed such attacks as an effort to disrupt daily life. The state agency IRNA argued that hitting refineries, fuel depots, transfer lines and gas facilities is intended to create fuel shortages and undermine public confidence. Some competing reports cite a possible Trump-brokered agreement to halt the fighting, though that has not been confirmed and the strike campaign and Gulf retaliation are corroborated across wire and international coverage. On TASS, a professor at Istanbul Aydin University placed the confrontation within a broader contest the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is waging against Iran and its partners, one of several competing interpretations各 side assigns to the same events.