Tehran claimed missile and drone attacks damaged American military and intelligence sites across three countries after the United States completed a 13th consecutive night of strikes, while oil prices remained headed for a roughly 10% weekly gain.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Iran launched a new wave of missile and drone attacks Friday against facilities housing U.S. forces in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan, expanding its regional retaliation hours after the American military completed a 13th consecutive night of strikes on Iranian targets.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said “super-heavy” drones struck Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, damaging a large ammunition depot and shelters used by American personnel. The claim was carried by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency but could not be independently verified, and U.S. and Kuwaiti officials did not immediately confirm casualties or damage.
In Bahrain, the IRGC claimed it destroyed the remaining portion of a facility it described as an intelligence data center operated by Amazon, the U.S. technology company. Tehran said the same site had been attacked during an earlier operation, although that assertion also remained unconfirmed.
Iran’s regular military separately reported drone attacks against several American positions in Bahrain and Jordan. The purported targets included aircraft hangars, maintenance installations and military barracks.
Bahrain activated warning sirens twice Friday morning and instructed residents to seek shelter after authorities detected incoming fire. Countries across the Persian Gulf that host American forces have faced repeated Iranian missile and drone attacks since the latest U.S. campaign began nearly two weeks ago.
Tehran has also targeted infrastructure across the region, including power-generating and desalination facilities, in response to daily American strikes against Iranian military assets.
U.S. Central Command said the latest American operation concluded Thursday evening after hitting military command centers, drone-storage facilities, communications systems, coastal surveillance locations and maritime capabilities. CENTCOM said the objective was to reduce Iran’s ability to threaten commercial vessels traveling through the Strait of Hormuz.
“The international waterway remains open for transit despite recent attacks from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” CENTCOM said.
“Commercial vessels continue to freely navigate the strait with U.S. military support.”
Although the United States maintains that Hormuz remains open, commercial traffic through the passage has dropped sharply. Kpler ship-tracking data showed that only three vessels per day traveled through the strait between July 22 and July 24.
Under normal peacetime conditions, roughly 100 vessels pass through the waterway each day, according to World Trade Organization data. About one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies ordinarily move through the Strait of Hormuz, making the reduction in tanker traffic a significant threat to global energy markets.
Iranian media said the latest American strikes hit Qeshm Island, Bandar Abbas, Isfahan, Khuzestan and Fars province. Explosions were also reported near a military base used by U.S. forces in Irbil in northern Iraq.
An Associated Press reporter heard at least seven explosions at approximately 9:30 a.m. local time and observed several columns of black smoke rising from the area near or inside the airport base. It was not immediately known what caused the blasts or whether the installation had been struck directly.
President Donald Trump said Thursday that he was close to deciding whether to dramatically widen the U.S. campaign in an attempt to force Iran’s leaders to reach an agreement with Washington.
“I am considering a massive attack. Bigger than ever before. I am close to making a decision. We are all set for it,” Trump told Axios, adding that Iranian leaders “haven’t received enough pain yet.”
Trump also threatened further military action after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi forces claimed responsibility for attacks on the Saudi oil tankers Encelia and Layla in the Red Sea.
“If they do this again, the United States will hold Iran responsible, in that the Houthis are a Surrogate and/or Proxy of Iran, and major military punishment will be inflicted upon Iran and, of course, the Houthis, themselves,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The tanker attacks increased fears that energy shipments could be disrupted simultaneously at the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. A sustained threat to both waterways would place two of the world’s most important maritime energy routes under pressure at the same time.
Oil prices eased Friday after surging beyond $100 per barrel during the previous session, but traders continued to price in the risk of prolonged supply disruptions.
Brent crude futures fell $3.44, or 3.4%, to $97.59 per barrel at approximately 8:22 a.m. Eastern time. The international benchmark had risen more than 7% Thursday and closed above $100 for the first time since May.
Despite Friday’s decline, Brent remained on pace to gain approximately 10% for the week.
ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey said prices would probably continue rising unless the conflict begins to de-escalate. In a Thursday note, they said the latest disruptions could endanger a larger volume of supply than at any previous point in the war.
The strategists added that political pressure on the Trump administration to reduce tensions would probably intensify significantly if Brent crude approached $120 per barrel.
With Iran striking U.S.-linked sites across multiple countries, Washington conducting daily attacks inside Iran and Houthi forces threatening Red Sea shipping, the conflict has evolved into a broader regional confrontation with growing consequences for military installations, civilian infrastructure and global energy supplies.
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