Iran, Gulf states report blasts as U.S. strikes widen conflict

Explosions were heard across Iran overnight as the conflict jumped again, with U.S. strikes hitting military sites in and around Bandar Abbas, Iran’s principal port on the Strait of Hormuz, and Gulf states coming under attack. The latest exchange pushed the fighting beyond a direct U.S.-Iran confrontation and into a wider arc that now includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

On July 7, the U.S. military completed a new round of offensive strikes on Iran and hit more than 80 targets with precision munitions. U.S. Central Command said those strikes hit Iranian air-defense systems, command and control networks, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile capabilities and small boats in and near the Strait of Hormuz. In the latest reported wave, the targets included Bandar Abbas, a city whose port and military infrastructure sit on one of the world’s most important energy arteries.

The Strait of Hormuz is a vital waterway for global oil and gas shipments, and disruptions there have already pushed up energy prices. Washington has said the strikes are meant to reduce Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping and mariners transiting the strait. Iran, in turn, has cast its actions as retaliation for U.S. and Israeli military pressure and for attacks on commercial vessels in the waterway.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards targeted U.S. facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait, destroyed radar systems in Oman, and struck fuel tanks and ammunition depots at Prince Hassan Air Base in Jordan.

Three people, including one child, were injured in Qatar by falling shrapnel during missile and drone attacks, and alerts sounded in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.