Iran targeted a Kuwaiti desalination plant and launched additional attacks against U.S. allies as American forces completed a sixth consecutive day of strikes on Iranian military, transportation and electrical infrastructure.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Iran expanded its attacks across the Gulf on Thursday, targeting a water desalination plant in Kuwait, wounding civilians in Qatar and striking U.S. allies in Jordan and Iraq as the United States intensified its campaign against Iranian military and strategic infrastructure.
The attack on Kuwait’s desalination system marked a major escalation in the war by extending Iranian strikes to civilian infrastructure relied upon by one of Washington’s regional allies.
Iran also launched attacks against Qatar, Jordan and the Kurdish population in Iraq. At least eight people were killed in Iranian strikes against America’s Kurdish allies, according to the president of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.
The escalation came as U.S. forces completed a sixth consecutive day of strikes inside Iran. The latest attacks expanded beyond military sites to include bridges, an airport and electrical infrastructure, while President Donald Trump indicated that Iranian power plants could soon be targeted.
American forces also redirected three commercial vessels that attempted to avoid a U.S. naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Energy Ministry asked citizens to reduce their electricity consumption following the U.S. strikes.
Video shared Thursday on X by U.S. Central Command showed American fighter jets deploying in the Middle East and U.S. missiles striking targets inside Iran.
The American campaign began in response to Iran’s attacks on commercial vessels traveling through the Strait of Hormuz. Although the initial U.S. strikes focused on military installations, the target list has since expanded to transportation and electrical infrastructure.
At least five bridges were destroyed in Bandar Abbas, the strategically important Iranian port city located along the Strait of Hormuz.
Photographs and videos reviewed by Fox News showed bridges engulfed in flames following the sixth straight day of American attacks. Additional images showed collapsed and twisted bridge wreckage across Bandar Abbas.
The city is home to Iran’s primary port serving the Strait of Hormuz, making its transportation infrastructure strategically important to Iranian military and commercial operations.
Iran’s attacks on Kuwait represented a particularly serious development because desalination plants are essential sources of drinking water in Gulf countries.
The strike broadened the conflict beyond military and transportation targets by threatening infrastructure needed to supply civilians with fresh water.
Additional Iranian missiles struck Qatar on Thursday, wounding civilians. Iran also targeted Jordan and Kurdish-controlled areas of Iraq.
Nechirvan Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, said at least eight people were killed in attacks on Kurdish areas and condemned the strikes as an attack on Iraqi sovereignty.
“Targeting the region and the resumption of violence are a serious escalation and a blatant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty,” Barzani said in a statement.
Iraqi air defenses shot down Iranian drones over Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, according to the Times of Israel.
The attacks demonstrated Iran’s willingness to strike U.S. allies and civilian infrastructure as American forces continued expanding their operations inside the country.
The widening conflict has also created new dangers for merchant shipping beyond the Strait of Hormuz.
An unidentified military force boarded a commercial vessel off the coast of Oman, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency reported Friday.
“UKMTO has received a report of an incident involving a merchant vessel and military forces approximately 100NM east of Duqm, Oman,” the agency said in an advisory.
“Reports indicate that the tanker was subject to interaction as part of ongoing military activity in the region. Authorities are aware and relevant investigations remain ongoing,” UKMTO added.
The incident occurred approximately 100 nautical miles east of Duqm, far outside the Strait of Hormuz in the open waters of the Arabian Sea.
UKMTO did not identify the military force involved or provide further details about the condition of the vessel or its crew.
The boarding, Iranian attacks on civilian infrastructure and the continuing U.S. blockade demonstrate how the conflict is spreading across a wider geographic area.
American strikes have now targeted Iran for six consecutive days, while Tehran has retaliated against Gulf states aligned with Washington and threatened critical infrastructure across the region.
The destruction of bridges in Bandar Abbas could interfere with movement in and around Iran’s principal Strait of Hormuz port, while attacks on Kuwait’s desalination infrastructure pose a direct threat to civilian water supplies.
With U.S. officials expanding their target list and Trump raising the possibility of attacks on power plants, the confrontation appears increasingly focused on infrastructure that supports Iran’s military, transportation and energy systems.
Iran’s retaliatory strikes, meanwhile, have moved beyond American forces and commercial shipping to include civilian infrastructure and populations in allied countries.
The conflict’s expansion into Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Iraqi Kurdistan, Oman’s surrounding waters and the strategic port city of Bandar Abbas has increased the possibility of further regional escalation as both sides widen the scope of their operations.
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