BY EMMANUEL OGBONNA
A missile launched by Iran struck a major state-run oil refinery in Bahrain late Thursday, authorities said, marking another escalation in a widening regional conflict that has already drawn in multiple countries and threatened the stability of the global energy market.
Officials in Bahrain confirmed that the projectile hit the facility and triggered a fire inside the refinery complex. Emergency crews quickly responded to the scene and managed to extinguish the blaze within hours. Despite the impact, authorities said the refinery continued operating and no casualties were reported.
The strike represents the latest attack on the Gulf’s energy infrastructure, a critical economic lifeline for the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. Oil facilities across the region have increasingly become targets as hostilities between Iran, Israel and their respective allies intensify.
The refinery attack came amid a fresh wave of Iranian strikes across the Middle East on Thursday. Tehran launched missiles and drones toward Israel, U.S. military installations and several countries across the region as the war entered its sixth day with no sign of easing.
Iran’s expanding military response unfolded as Israel and the United States continued conducting large-scale air and missile strikes against Iranian targets, including military facilities, leadership compounds and nuclear-related sites. The sustained bombardment has transformed the conflict into one of the most dangerous regional confrontations in years.
As the fighting intensified, the war appeared to widen geographically, drawing in additional countries and spreading instability throughout the region. At least 14 nations have now been affected directly or indirectly by the hostilities, according to regional officials.
On Thursday, Azerbaijan accused Iran of launching drones toward its territory. Authorities in Baku said one drone crashed near the airport in Nakhchivan, an Azerbaijani exclave bordering Iran and separated from the rest of the country by Armenia. Another unmanned aircraft reportedly fell near a local school.
Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s Office said four civilians, all airport employees, were injured in the incident. President Ilham Aliyev condemned what he described as an unprovoked act of aggression and instructed the country’s military to prepare retaliatory measures.
Iran denied responsibility for the drone attacks, rejecting accusations that it had targeted Azerbaijani territory.
Meanwhile, the United States reported that one of its naval forces sank an Iranian frigate earlier in the week in waters near Sri Lanka. The vessel, identified as the IRIS Dena, was destroyed during an encounter in the Indian Ocean. Officials said the ship had been returning from multinational naval exercises conducted with the Indian navy when it was struck.
Sri Lankan authorities reported that 32 crew members were rescued following the sinking, while at least 87 bodies were recovered from the water. Iranian officials indicated that the ship had been carrying nearly 130 personnel at the time of the incident.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, sharply condemned the sinking of the warship, accusing the United States Navy of committing what he called an “atrocity at sea.” In a statement posted on social media, he warned that Washington would eventually face consequences for its actions.
“Mark my words,” Araghchi wrote. “The United States will bitterly regret the precedent it has set.”
Iranian officials have maintained a defiant tone throughout the conflict, vowing retaliation against both Israel and the United States. In one particularly stark statement broadcast on Iranian state television, cleric Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli called for vengeance against Israeli leaders and U.S. President Donald Trump. Such direct calls for violence from a senior Shiite cleric are rare in Iran’s religious hierarchy.
As the war continues to spread, Israel has faced repeated missile alerts across major cities including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Sirens sounded throughout both metropolitan areas on Thursday as incoming projectiles were detected. Israel’s military said it responded by launching strikes against multiple Iranian ballistic missile launch sites.
In Lebanon, the conflict also escalated dramatically as Israel issued a sweeping evacuation warning to residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs. The warning signaled the possibility of heavy bombardment in areas believed to contain positions linked to Hezbollah, the Iranian-aligned militant group that has joined the fighting against Israel.
The Israeli military said it carried out attacks against dozens of targets in Lebanon over the past 24 hours, including several command centers used by Hezbollah fighters in Beirut’s outskirts. Video footage released by the military appeared to show buildings being struck during the operations, though officials did not provide further details about casualties.
United Nations peacekeeping forces stationed in southern Lebanon reported witnessing increased combat activity along the border region. According to a spokesperson for the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, peacekeepers observed ground fighting near the border village of Kfar Kila overnight as additional Israeli troops moved into the area.
Peacekeepers also reported hearing explosions and observing aerial bombardments in the nearby town of Khiyam, located just a few kilometers from the frontier.
Elsewhere in the Gulf region, several countries reported intercepting incoming missiles and drones believed to have originated from Iran. In the United Arab Emirates, defense systems shot down a drone near Al Dhafra Air Base, a facility that hosts American military forces. Falling debris injured six people on the ground, authorities said.
Qatar temporarily evacuated residents living near the U.S. Embassy compound in Doha as a precautionary measure after a missile alert was issued in the city. Saudi Arabia reported destroying a drone in a northern province bordering Jordan.
Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, said its air defenses had intercepted dozens of projectiles since the start of the conflict. According to the country’s Defense Ministry, forces have shot down 75 ballistic missiles and 124 drones launched toward its territory since hostilities began.
The conflict has also created new dangers for international shipping in the Persian Gulf and surrounding waterways. Early Thursday, a commercial tanker reported an explosion while traveling off the coast of Kuwait, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, which monitors maritime security in the region. Authorities did not immediately determine the cause of the blast.
Since the start of the war, several vessels have come under attack in the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most strategically important maritime routes. Approximately one-fifth of global oil shipments pass through the narrow waterway, and disruptions there have already pushed energy prices higher in international markets.
The human toll of the conflict continues to mount. Officials say at least 1,230 people have been killed in Iran since the war began, while more than 100 deaths have been reported in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel. Six American service members have also been confirmed killed during the fighting.
The conflict began last Saturday when Israeli and American forces launched coordinated strikes against Iranian targets, including military installations and nuclear facilities. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed during the opening phase of the war, according to officials involved in the operation.
While leaders in Washington and Jerusalem initially suggested that weakening or toppling Iran’s government could be among the objectives of the campaign, the strategy and timeline of the war have shifted repeatedly as the conflict expands across the region.
With missile exchanges intensifying, oil infrastructure coming under attack and new countries becoming entangled in the fighting, the war increasingly appears to be evolving into a prolonged regional crisis with global consequences.
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