A mourner holds a portrait depicting Iran’s Supreme Chief Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, prime, and his late father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as mourners await the funeral procession for the elder Khamenei outdoors the Imam Hussein Shrine in Karbala, Iraq, Wednesday, July 8, 2026.
Khalil Hamra/AP
disguise caption
toggle caption
Khalil Hamra/AP
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — America launched new airstrikes in opposition to Iran early Thursday, and Tehran responded by focusing on Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar in crossfire that once more threatened an interim deal meant to assist finish the warfare within the Persian Gulf.
The strikes got here hours after U.S. President Donald Trump stated current Iranian assaults on ships within the Strait of Hormuz signaled the top of the delicate ceasefire. The U.S. struck a wide range of navy websites and port services early Wednesday after Iran focused a number of service provider vessels off the coast of Oman, sparking Iranian fireplace then as effectively.
However Thursday’s assaults appeared larger throughout, with sirens sounding a minimum of twice in Bahrain, residence to the U.S. Navy’s fifth Fleet headquarters. There was no rapid phrase of harm within the three Gulf Arab international locations. Kuwait’s navy stated it was actively intercepting incoming drones and missiles. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed assaults on Bahrain and Kuwait.
U.S. strikes hit extra targets
The U.S. navy’s Central Command stated it hit some 90 targets throughout Iran, releasing black-and-white footage of what seemed to be strikes on an airport runway and missile launchers.
“U.S. forces remain vigilant, lethal, and prepared to execute operations directed by the Commander in Chief,” it added.
The U.S. says the strikes had been meant to “further degrade” Iran’s capacity “to threaten freedom of navigation” within the strait, by means of which a fifth of the world’s traded oil and pure gasoline handed earlier than the warfare started with U.S. and Israeli assaults on Feb. 28.
Iranian state media reported explosions in a number of places, together with Bushehr, residence to Iran’s nuclear energy plant advanced, and the southern port cities of Chabahar, Konarak, Bandar Abbas and Sirik.
In Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province, a minimum of three folks had been killed, state media reported. In Iranshahr, authorities stated a strike had killed a firefighter at an airport. These fatalities adopted a minimum of 9 folks being killed in Wednesday’s strikes in Iran.
For the primary time since April, it additionally appeared the U.S. strikes focused Iranian bridges. State media reported a strike on a railway bridge in Iran’s northeastern Golestan province, and the Revolutionary Guard stated two bridges had been attacked on the path to Mashhad, the place officers plan to bury the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday. However it wasn’t clear if the Golestan assault was the identical one talked about by the Guard.
Trump warns that ‘it’ll get a lot worse’ if assaults on transport occur once more
After leaving a NATO summit in Turkey, Trump posted a number of movies on his social media web site of what he stated had been explosions in Iran and issued one other warning to the Islamic Republic.
“This is in retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!” Trump wrote.
Trump had stated earlier within the day that the newest back-and-forth combating wouldn’t lead to “long-term” navy motion.
“Anything that happens is going to happen very fast,” Trump stated, although he additionally recommended the U.S. navy may “just finish the job.”
Trump additionally renewed his previous threats to hit Iran’s civilian infrastructure, together with electrical crops and desalinization crops, and to grab the oil-production hub of Kharg Island.
After three tankers had been hit Tuesday, the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, and Iranian forces retaliated by focusing on American navy websites within the Persian Gulf.
Iran has asserted that the interim ceasefire deal provides it the suitable to handle visitors by means of the strait. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a key negotiator in talks in search of a everlasting finish to the warfare, was defiant in a publish on X on Thursday morning: “America still hasn’t learned that bullying and breaking promises are no longer cost-free. Let me put it plainly: if you strike, you’ll get hit.”
Strikes increase fears that warfare might resume
Trump fueled considerations that the warfare might restart by saying the interim settlement to pause combating was “over,” though he added that he would enable negotiations to proceed.
Youngsters wade within the water with cargo ships at anchor within the background and a fisherman close by, within the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Tuesday, June 30, 2026.
Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA through AP
disguise caption
toggle caption
Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA through AP
Assaults have repeatedly threatened the shaky ceasefire, however Trump’s feedback added new uncertainty, and oil costs shot up after he spoke. A renewed battle might engulf the broader Center East and would seemingly once more halt vitality shipments by means of the strait.
“For me, I think it’s over,” Trump stated when requested concerning the standing of the ceasefire. He added that U.S. representatives can proceed negotiations, however he forged doubt on the result. “They can talk, but I think they’re wasting their time,” he stated.
Iranian Deputy Overseas Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, additionally a prime negotiator, retorted on X that Trump’s remarks “are not a sign of power but an admission of the failure” of U.S. coverage towards Iran.
Trump has made different threats to grab Kharg Island, together with final month, when he additionally questioned whether or not the U.S. “has the stomach for it.” Some 90% of Iranian oil exports move by means of the island.
The brand new assaults on ships within the strait, regardless of the negotiations, might mirror a divide amongst Iran’s management. Arduous-liners search lasting management over the waterway, which is a globally necessary conduit for gasoline shipments and has change into a vital lever in confronting the West. Pragmatists desire a everlasting peace deal to carry worldwide sanctions and supply desperately wanted financial aid.
Negotiations to succeed in a remaining deal had been resulting from begin after the funeral for Khamenei, who was killed Feb. 28 within the warfare’s first moments. The funeral, which ends Thursday, was alleged to be a interval of decrease tensions.
The talks are supposed to deal with the hardest issues, together with totally reopening the strait and rolling again Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.
