The U.S. military appeared to widen its targets in Iran in recent days, hitting multiple parts of the country, according to state media reports, as clashes entered a sixth straight day. Iran also fired at bases belonging to American allies in the Middle East as the conflict over the Strait of Hormuz escalated.
U.S. Central Command has said its strikes are aimed at Iranian command centers, air defense sites and missile and drone capabilities with the intent of degrading Tehran’s ability to attack commercial shipping in the strait. The United States also resumed a blockade of Iranian ports in an effort to put pressure on Tehran to make a deal to end the war, now in its fifth month.
Here are some of the areas in Iran and across the Middle East where strikes have been reported over Wednesday and Thursday:
Attacks in Iran
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Tehran and the surrounding region: The Iranian capital activated its air defenses early Thursday, according to state media, though the reason was not clear. Iran’s state broadcaster, IRIB, later reported that parts of Semnan Airport, about 110 miles east of Tehran, had been hit by aerial attacks, citing a spokesman for the provincial crisis management agency. It was not immediately clear what had been targeted. Semnan Province is home to missile-testing and space-launch facilities.
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Southern Iran: The U.S. military said on Thursday that it had struck Bandar Abbas — which is home to an Iranian naval base and has been hit repeatedly in the war — and cruise missile sites on Greater Tunb, an island near the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz in the easternmost part of the Persian Gulf. Greater Tunb is one of a string of islands that Iran uses to control shipping through the waterway.
The authorities in Hormozgan Province said early Thursday that U.S. projectiles had struck locations near Sirik, a coastal area, and Qeshm, an island in the strait that is close to major shipping routes. Officials later said that part of an unoccupied fishmeal factory on the island had been damaged.
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Southwestern Iran: Several explosions were heard Wednesday night in the city of Ahvaz, the capital of the oil-rich Khuzestan Province, according to IRNA, Iran’s official news agency. The province is on the Iraqi border and a major center of Iran’s energy industry. Iran’s state broadcaster and a health ministry official reported late Wednesday that the city’s Shahid Baghaei Hospital, which treats cancer patients, was evacuated after U.S. projectiles struck the surrounding area, though it did not say that the hospital itself had been hit.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps claimed it had intercepted and destroyed a U.S. drone over Andimeshk, a city in Khuzestan, according to state media reports.
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Southeastern Iran: Local sources in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, near the borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan, told IRNA that projectiles had struck a location in the city of Rask on Wednesday night. State media reported that explosions had been heard along a road in Chabahar, a commercial port that is near military facilities on the Gulf of Oman and also has been attacked in recent days.
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Central Iran: An area outside Khondab city, about 155 miles southwest of Tehran in Markazi Province, was struck by two projectiles, IRNA reported on Wednesday. A provincial official said this was the third time that Khondab had been targeted since Monday.
Attacks elsewhere in the Middle East
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Jordan: IRIB reported Thursday morning that the Iranian army had launched a drone attack on an air base in Jordan, claiming to have targeted radar and communications systems and fuel tanks used by U.S. forces. The report said the strike was in retaliation for U.S. attacks on Iran, including one on Wednesday that Iranian officials said had killed seven soldiers at an army base. The Jordanian military said it had shot down eight Iranian missiles, with no casualties or damage.
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Kuwait: The Guards Corps said it had launched missiles and drones at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait and struck an area where U.S. troops were gathered. There was no immediate information about any damage or casualties. Kuwait’s army said its air defense systems were intercepting hostile targets early Thursday.
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Bahrain: Warning sirens went off on Wednesday night in Bahrain, according to the interior ministry. The United States has a naval base in the Persian Gulf nation that Iran has targeted repeatedly.
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Iraq: Eight attack drones were shot down on Wednesday night over Erbil in Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdistan region, a close U.S. ally, according to a statement from Iraqi Kurdistan’s counterterrorism force. The statement did not identify the source of the drones, but the region has come under frequent attack by Iran and allied militias inside Iraq.
Attack at Sea
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On Wednesday, the first day of the renewed U.S. blockade of Iran, American forces fired missiles into the smokestack of a Curaçao-flagged ship that U.S. Central Command said had violated the blockade by sailing toward an Iranian port. It was the 10th ship that has resisted the American blockade and been disabled since early April, the U.S. military said.
Ashley Ahn, Ishani Desai, Shirin Hakim and Erika Solomon contributed reporting.
