US continues attacks on Iran, as regional tensions escalate

The New Arab's live blog on tensions in Iran and the wider Middle East has now ended, and will resume tomorrow at 0900am.

Thank you for following.

Iran's army said it struck US military targets in Kuwait and Jordan in response to American attacks, according to a statement carried by the Iranian state broadcaster on Saturday.

In Kuwait, Iranian forces targeted an ammunition depot in the Al-Adiri camp, the headquarters buildings and ammunition depots in the Ali Al-Salem base and several communication bridges.

In Jordan, fuel tanks at the Al-Azraq base were also targeted, the state broadcaster said on Telegram.

US attacks killed three people and wounded eight in the southern Iranian province of Hormozgan, state news agency IRNA reported on Saturday.

"The deputy political, security and social affairs governor of Hormozgan announced the martyrdom of three people and the injury of eight people following enemy attacks on some parts of Hormozgan province this morning," IRNA said on Telegram.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Saturday they had "stopped" four ships trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

"In the past hours, four violating ships with the support of the terrorist US army were trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, and all four ships were stopped in place during a combined missile and drone operation," the Guards said in a statement carried by the state broadcaster.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Saturday that two oil tankers transiting through the Strait of Hormuz hit mines and exploded, according to a statement published by state news agency IRNA.

"An hour ago, two oil tankers, which were trying to pass through the minefield south of the Strait of Hormuz by deceptive American intelligence agencies, exploded and caught fire," the Guards said in their statement.

Five explosions were heard in the early hours of Saturday in Yazd, in central Iran, the state news agency IRNA reported, after the US military announced a seventh night of strikes against the country.

Another Iranian news agency, Mehr, reported that explosions were heard "in several provinces in the south" of Iran.

The US State Department on Friday reported a major oil pipeline between Iraq and Syria, which has been closed for decades, will be restored by the two countries.

"The United States welcomes the Government of the Republic of Iraq and the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic's intent to advance the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Iraq-Syria crude oil pipeline as a priority infrastructure project," the State Department said in a statement, calling it "of bilateral and regional strategic significance."

The pipeline will link Iraqi oil production to export markets in the Mediterranean and beyond.

"Today's announcement marks an important milestone for the region and for Syria-Iraq relations," the State Department added.

Washington is overseeing an international consortium "to execute the technical and financial aspects of this project," which is expected to have an initial transport capacity of two million barrels of crude daily once fully rehabilitated, the department said.

In Damascus last week, TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne said that Syria could become an "important transit country for oil coming from Iraq to the Mediterranean," especially with the need for "alternative routes" given the closure of the Strait of Hormuz from to the Iran war and its effect on global energy supplies.

Since April, Iraq has been transporting crude through Syria by truck to circumvent the closure of the strait, which briefly reopened after a fragile ceasefire but has since been locked down by Iran after US strikes resumed earlier this month.

The announcement of the oil pipeline restoration comes as Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi visits Washington, with US President Donald Trump praising his leadership.

US forces launched strikes against Iran for a seventh night in a row on Friday, the US military said.

US Central Command, in a post on X, said the strikes, which began at 1900 GMT, were designed to "continue degrading Iranian military capabilities."

Tehran is ready to resume "full-scale offensive operations" if US strikes against it continue for another two or three days, a senior military advisor to Iran's supreme leader warned Friday.

"Iran will no longer limit itself to retaliatory, like-for-like responses ... and no political border will be safe," Major General Mohsen Rezaei said, according to the Iranian news agency IRIB.

The European Union on Friday reiterated its call on Israel to refrain from expanding its settlements in the occupied West Bank.

"The EU reiterates its call on Israel to refrain from further settlement expansion, the legalization of outposts, land appropriation, demolitions, evictions and other unilateral measures that undermine the viability of the two-state solution," said a statement from the EU's diplomatic service spokesperson.

Earlier this week, Israel's security cabinet approved a budget of 1.3 billion shekels ($427.8 million) for establishing 34 new settlements in the West Bank.

UN. bodies, Palestinians and most countries view the settlements as illegal under international conventions - a stance disputed by Israel - and a primary obstacle to peace. 

Iraq has signed an official agreement with SpaceX-owned Starlink to operate formally in the country, Iraqi state media reported on Friday, citing the head of the communications and media commission. 

Iran's Tasnim news agency cited an informed source as saying that a Thai-flagged ship was targeted in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday after it allegedly ignored warnings and attempted to pass without permission from Iran's Revolutionary Guards navy.

The source said the vessel was confronted by the IRGC navy and targeted.

A vessel under sanctions for moving Russian fuel is likely leaking oil in a protected marine area off the coast of Oman, according to analysis of satellite imagery and experts.

The Caroline Bezengi vessel took Russian oil on board in Novorossiysk before leaving for its most recent voyage, according to ship tracking data. It last transmitted a signal on public AIS tracking on 11 June off the coast of Yemen.

The tanker's owner, listed on shipping databases as Shanghai-based Rentoor Shipmanagement, could not be reached for comment.

The Oman Maritime Security Centre and Oman's Environment Authority did not reply to requests for comment.

The likely spill – appearing on images as a silver and grey slick – covered waters in a cove southwest of al-Qibliyyah island, pictures from Copernicus Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 showed on 2-13 July.

Three independent specialists - John Amos of SkyTruth, Leon Moreland of the Conflict and Environment Observatory, and Louis Goddard of Data Desk - told Reuters that the satellite imagery appeared to show an oil spill.

Reuters reviewed a video that showed the Caroline Bezengi off the coast of al-Qibliyyah island. It could not independently confirm the date the video was taken.

Russia uses aging, often poorly maintained tankers in its so-called shadow fleet to circumvent Western sanctions on Russian oil exports. It was not clear if the leak was due to a malfunction or damage from a possible attack by Ukraine, which has targeted Russian related tankers, or from the conflict between the US and Iran in the Gulf region.

The tanker first reported difficulties on June 8 off the coast of the southern Yemeni port of Mukalla, two separate maritime security sources said. One confirmed the spill. They said the cause of the vessel's problems was unclear.

The European Union and Britain have imposed sanctions on the vessel for what they said was involvement in carrying fuels from Russia.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said Friday that attacks on civilian infrastructure are "unacceptable," after Iran accused the United States of targeting bridges and transport hubs.

"The Secretary General remains deeply concerned by the continuing military escalation between Iran and the United States of America," spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters.

"He's particularly concerned about attacks on civilian infrastructure in Iran and across the region. Such attacks are unacceptable," he added. The United States has not confirmed Iran's allegations that it targeted civilian sites.

Gaza health officials said an Israeli airstrike on Friday killed eight people near a market in a central part of the territory.

According to the civil defence agency, "eight individuals were killed" at the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The territory's Al-Awda hospital confirmed receiving their bodies.

US missiles have reportedly hit an empty and docked oil tanker in Kharg Island, the IRNA news agency said, citing the governor of Bushehr.

The US military said on Friday that it had destroyed the Chabahar Shahid Kalantari Port surveillance tower in Iran on Thursday.

US Central Command said in a post on X that the tower was part of a maritime surveillance network along Iran's Gulf of Oman coastline used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to track and target commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. 

Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government has demanded an immediate end to hostilities, after drone and rocket strikes killed nine members of an Iranian Kurdish armed opposition group in the region, which have been blamed on Iran.

Masrour Barzani, the KRG prime minister said in a statement: "We condemn the unjustified attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran against the Kurdistan region."

Unidentified individuals illegally boarded a vessel in the Gulf of Aden, a maritime security agency reported on Friday, with Yemen's coast guard saying it was captured by Somali pirates.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said the incident took place 65 nautical miles south of Mukalla, a major city on Yemen's south coast.

"Military authorities have reported that the vessel was boarded by unauthorised personnel whilst transiting east in the Gulf of Aden," the agency posted on X.

Yemen's coast guard said the ship, named the Asana, was captured by "a group of Somali pirates" and was heading southeast, towards Somalia.

The maritime security company Ambrey said the Tanzania-flagged ship did not have an armed security team aboard, and added that a South Korean navy "vessel was en route to the tanker to provide assistance".

The shipping route between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, which links the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea, is one of the busiest in the world, with sea traffic experiencing significant disruption in the Strait of Hormuz due to the Middle East war.

The Joint Maritime Information Centre (JMIC), run by a massive 47-nation coalition deployed in the northern Indian Ocean to fight the Horn of Africa's longtime pirate menace, raised its alert level to "severe" in early May, its second-highest.

It came after a series of attacks by Somali pirates who seized several vessels off the coast of Yemen and off the coast of Puntland, a state in northeastern Somalia.

Two Palestinians were killed on Friday by Israeli shelling and gunfire in central and southern Gaza, according to medical sources cited by the Palestinian Wafa agency.

The two were identified as Suleiman Ibrahim Fajrallah and Amani Ibrahim Abu Jazar, who was 49 years-old.

Fajrallah was killed after being an Israeli strike hit the western area of Nuseirat in central Gaza. Abu Jazar was shot in the Al-Kanis area southwest of Khan Younis.