US and Iran escalate conflict as strikes hit Gulf infrastructure
Tensions spike after Iranian retaliation damages power and water facilities in Kuwait and a depot in Bahrain, raising fears of humanitarian crisis across the Gulf.
The United States military has conducted its seventh consecutive night of strikes on Iran, intensifying a conflict that has rapidly expanded beyond bilateral exchanges into the broader Gulf region. US Central Command confirmed via a post on X that the operations commenced at 19:00 GMT on Friday, describing the campaign as an effort to degrade Iranian military capabilities at the direction of the Commander in Chief.
Explosions were reported across multiple Iranian provinces, with state news agency IRNA recording five blasts in Yazd and Iranian state television confirming three explosions in the southern city of Sirik. The Mehr news agency added that further blasts were heard in several other southern provinces. The US military stated that overnight strikes from Thursday into Friday resulted in eight deaths in Iran.
In response to the sustained bombardment, Iranian officials have issued stark warnings regarding the escalation of hostilities. Major-General Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to the supreme leader, stated that Tehran is moving beyond the "military phase of deterrence" into a phase of "offence and complete destruction." He warned that if US attacks continue for another two or three days, Iran would resume full-scale offensive operations, asserting that "no political border will be safe."
Retaliatory actions by Iran have already impacted critical infrastructure in allied Gulf states. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed it struck a depot housing US unmanned aerial vehicles in Bahrain late on Friday, an attack Washington has not confirmed. Simultaneously, Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy announced that Iranian strikes damaged a power and water plant, sparking a fire that has since been extinguished.
The damage to Kuwaiti generation units has prompted authorities to urge citizens and residents to ration electricity. The targeting of such facilities raises significant concerns regarding humanitarian consequences, given that Gulf states are heavily dependent on water desalination plants, which account for 40 percent of global desalinated water production. Tehran has accused Washington of targeting civilian infrastructure and committing war crimes, while footage from Iranian state media shows heavily damaged bridges and railway lines in the country’s south.
