On sixth night, US hits civilian targets in southern Iran

Kuwait reported an Iranian attack on a power and water plant on Friday, while Bahrain and Qatar also said they had intercepted missiles after the United States bombed Iran for the sixth consecutive night.

Kuwaiti army's chief of staff "visited several wounded members of the Kuwaiti land forces, who were injured... as part of the criminal Iranian aggression", the army said, in a post on social media platform X.

The Kuwaiti electricity ministry had said "one of the power and water distillation plants was the target of an attack... resulting in a fire, damage and the impairment of several production units".

It called on users "to ration their electricity consumption during this exceptional period".

The Gulf state earlier announced it was facing "drone and missile attacks" that it blamed on Iran.

Tehran said that in response to the US strikes it had sent drones to Kuwait to target sites where US forces are deployed and their logistical support centres, state TV reported.

Elsewhere, the Bahraini military stated that it had "intercepted and destroyed several Iranian aerial attacks".

Iranian state media reported that Tehran had targeted US helicopters and planes at an airbase there.

In Qatar, the defence ministry said the army intercepted a missile attack.

A child was injured by falling debris resulting from the missile interception, the interior ministry later reported.

Iran's Iran Guards said they had targeted US radar systems and military aircraft in Qatar to "punish the aggressor" following overnight US strikes on Iran.

The Bahraini Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed the Kingdom's strong condemnation and denunciation of "repeated Iranian attacks" that targeted civilian and vital installations with missiles and drones in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Jordan, considering that they represent "a dangerous escalation that threatens the safety of civilians and regional security and stability, and a flagrant violation of international law, the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of good faith."

The Ministry affirmed, in a statement reported by the Bahraini News Agency (BNA), "Bahrain’s full solidarity with sisterly countries, and its support for its right to take all legitimate measures to defend its sovereignty, security and stability and protect citizens and residents, in accordance with international law and Article 51 of the United Nations Charter and the Joint Defense Agreement of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries."

The Bahraini Foreign Ministry renewed its call to the international community, especially the United Nations Security Council, to take firm and deterrent measures to compel Iran to stop what it described as its "hostile actions," guarantee the security, safety, and freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, and hold it responsible under international law, the United Nations Charter, and relevant United Nations resolutions.

Kuwait's army said that an Iranian drone attack on Friday wounded several military personnel in the Gulf state, as the United States and Iran returned to outright war.

The army's chief of staff "visited several wounded members of the Kuwaiti land forces, who were injured after enemy drones targeted several army facilities and camps this morning, as part of the criminal Iranian aggression", the army said, in a social media post.

Oil prices rallied, with international benchmark Brent North Sea crude powering above $85 a barrel, as the United States and Iran traded fresh attacks.

"The technology selloff is not the only reason markets are in a sour mood," noted Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote bank.

"Developments in the Middle East are getting worse by the hour."

Commander of the Aerospace Force of the IRGC, Seyed Majid Mousavi, said that the Iranian attacks will continue "until calm returns to the southern coastline and the Strait of Hormuz".

"In the system of calculations, the entire territory of Iran—from Tehran to the south—is one and the same. Effective and targeted strikes from across Iran against the enemy will continue until calm returns to the southern coastline and the Strait of Hormuz," he said, according to Iranian state TV.

Strikes in Iraq's Kurdistan region killed nine members of an Iranian Kurdish armed opposition group on Friday, the exiled party said, blaming the attack on Iran.

Idriss Kohlwazi from the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan told AFP that "the Iranian regime attacked at 04:30 am (0130 GMT) with drones and rockets a camp" belonging to the party and its vicinity near the city of Sulaimaniyah in the early morning.

He said that the toll has risen to nine members killed after initially reporting eight. Two others were wounded in the attack.

Later Friday, a strike hit another camp belonging to Kurdish rebels, wounding two fighters, according to Komala's Amjad Panahi.

Pressure is growing for the release of a probe of a US attack on an Iranian school that killed more than 120 children and more than 40 adults at the beginning of the US-Israel war on Iran, as the US launches another round of strikes on Iran this week killing at least 30 civilians.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York is leading calls for the release of a Pentagon investigation of the airstrikes by next week. She is joined by more than two dozen Democratic senators, an unusually high number for such an issue.

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The presidency of Iraqi Kurdistan on Friday denounced attacks on the autonomous region as a "blatant violation" of Iraq's sovereignty.

"Targeting the region and the resumption of violence are a serious escalation and a blatant violation of Iraq's sovereignty," the regional presidency said, after air defences shot down drones over Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan, and strikes targeted exiled Iranian Kurds.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it targeted US radar systems and military aircraft in Qatar to "punish the aggressor" following overnight US strikes on Iran.

"In continuation of last night's retaliatory operations, the brave fighters of the IRGC's Aerospace Force… carried out a heavy and surprise attack on the US airbase at al-Udeid, Qatar, to punish the aggressor and the child-killing US military," the IRGC says in a statement.

A Syrian military source denied to AFP on Friday that Iran had bombed the Al-Tanf base near Syria's southeastern borders with Jordan and Iraq, after Tehran's Revolutionary Guards said they targeted the facility in response to US strikes.

"We deny any Iranian bombardment targeting the Al-Tanf area," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. US forces said they withdrew from the base earlier this year after troops were stationed there as part of a US-led anti-IS coalition.

Iran's energy ministry called on citizens to reduce electricity use on Friday after the power grid came under strain following US strikes on energy infrastructure in the south.

The ministry in a statement urged people to switch off air conditioners in peak hours "to help ensure a stable electricity supply in the southern provinces, which are currently facing extreme heat and attacks on electricity supply facilities".

Armed assailants are believed to have boarded the chemical tanker Asana off the southern coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden on Friday and are in control of the vessel, maritime security sources said.

The small tanker, which had no confirmed flag, had listed the Somali port of Bosaso as its next destination, ship tracking data showed.

Based on initial assessments, the incident appeared to be related to Somali piracy rather than Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militia, one of the maritime security sources said.

A vessel was boarded by unauthorised personnel while transiting east in the Gulf of Aden, 65 nautical miles south of Yemen's Al Mukalla port, the British navy agency UKMTO said on Friday.

"Details regarding the number of assailants, the circumstances of the boarding, and the status of the vessel and crew remain unclear," British maritime risk management group Vanguard said.

Kuwait says Iran attacked a power and water desalination plant, causing widespread damage to the station.

US President Donald Trump has once again suggested that Syria should take on Hezbollah in Lebanon, saying President Ahmed Al-Sharaa “would be more precise than Israel” in confronting the group and would do so without “knocking down buildings”.

Speaking to Fox News on Tuesday, Trump was asked about a statement he made last month, in which he said that Syrian forces could fight Hezbollah.

Sharaa at the time ruled out any intervention in Lebanon against the group.

However, Trump doubled down on his suggestion regardless.

“He would go in and take care of Hezbollah and he’d do it in a different way. He wouldn’t knock down buildings. I hated to see buildings knocked down.”

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Today, Friday, the Jordanian army announced the interception and shooting down of three Iranian missiles that entered Jordanian airspace and were targeting the Kingdom’s territory, without recording human casualties or material damage.

An official military source in the General Command of the Jordanian Armed Forces said in a statement that air defense systems responded this morning to three Iranian missiles that entered Jordanian airspace, and were able to intercept and shoot them down.

The source explained that the missiles were dealt with in accordance with the approved defensive measures and operational procedures, ensuring the protection of the Kingdom’s sovereignty, securing its airspace, and preserving the security and safety of citizens.

The source added that the interception and shooting down operation did not result in any human casualties or material damage, while the Royal Engineering Corps teams began their duties at the sites where the shrapnel fell, dealing with them and securing them in accordance with the approved technical and security procedures.

Qatar announced Friday that its army had intercepted a missile attack, with falling debris injuring a child.

"The Ministry of Defense... announces that the armed forces have intercepted a missile attack that targeted the State of Qatar," the ministry wrote on X.

A child was injured by falling debris after the interception, the interior ministry later reported.

Iran has targeted several Gulf countries since hostilities with the United States resumed on 7 July, claiming to be aiming at American military installations.

Qatar, a mediator in talks with the United States alongside Pakistan and host to the largest US base in the Middle East, was targeted on Sunday for the first time since the April truce.

Iranian state media reported Friday that overnight US strikes on infrastructure in southern and western Iran killed eight people and wounded 20 others.

"Some infrastructure in several provinces of the country came under US military attack," the IRNA news agency said, reporting that six bridges in the southern province of Hormozgan were targeted.

British police on Friday said they had charged a 39-year old man on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service, and the investigation related to Iran. 

The US-led coalition shot down several drones on Friday over Erbil, the capital of Iraq's northern Kurdistan region, Kurdish forces said, in the second such incident in the city this week.

Kurdish counterterrorism forces said that "coalition forces downed eight explosive-laden drones over Erbil between 04:19 and 05:25 am (0119 and 0225 GMT)", with no damage or casualties reported.

Just three commodity vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, the fewest daily transits since May, shipping data showed, with most ships halting or making U-turns after recent Iranian attacks on vessels and the resumption of a US blockade on Iran-related shipping. 

Iran's health ministry said Friday that at least 38 people had been killed and more than 400 injured in the country since fighting resumed with the United States.

"The number of injured from US attacks has exceeded 400, and 38 compatriots have been martyred" since June 22, ministry spokesman Hossein Kermanpour posted on X. "Among them are 22 injured women, three martyred women, nine injured under the age of 18, and one martyr under 18."

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say they struck two radar sites belonging to the United States in the Gulf sultanate of Oman.

A statement says their forces "targeted and destroyed the maritime surveillance radar at the Salamah Rocks and the US air surveillance radar stationed in the Ghanam area."

The Islamic Republic of Iran News Agency (IRNA), citing the Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, reported that at least seven people were killed as a result of US attacks that targeted bridges in the coastal city of Bandar Khumir, located in the Hormozgan province in southern Iran.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Friday they had attacked the Al-Tanf military base in Syria.

"The IRGC announces a surprise attack on the enemy's Special Operations Command Center in Syria's Al-Tanf region in retaliation for the blood of the martyred Iranian soldiers in Iranshahr," the state broadcaster wrote on Telegram.