US launches seventh straight night of strikes on Iran

What Happened

The United States military conducted a seventh consecutive night of strikes on Iran, with US Central Command (CENTCOM) stating the operations began at 19:00 GMT on Friday and were 'designed to continue degrading Iranian military capabilities.' Iranian state media reported five explosions in Yazd (central Iran) and three in Sirik (southern Iran), with Mehr news agency adding that blasts were heard in several southern provinces. Iran accused the US of targeting civilian infrastructure, publishing footage of damaged bridges and railway lines, and warned it would respond by striking civilian infrastructure across the Gulf. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed it struck a depot housing US unmanned aerial vehicles in Bahrain, though Washington did not confirm the attack. Major-General Mohsen Rezaei, adviser to Iran's supreme leader, warned that if US attacks persist for another two or three days, Iran will shift from deterrence to 'offence and complete destruction,' resuming full-scale offensive operations and stating 'no political border will be safe.' Separately, Kuwait's Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy announced that an Iranian strike hit a power and water plant, damaging electricity generation units and causing a fire, prompting calls for electricity rationing. These developments follow earlier US attacks that Iran said killed eight people overnight on Thursday, after which the IRGC launched attacks against US military assets in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Jordan, and Syria.

Key Actors

Why It Matters

The escalating tit-for-tat strikes mark a dangerous turn in the US-Iran shadow war, with both sides now directly attacking each other's territory and threatening to expand the conflict. Iran's explicit threat to target civilian infrastructure in the Gulf—highlighted by a claimed strike on a Kuwaiti power and water plant—risks severe humanitarian and economic consequences, particularly given the region's reliance on desalination. The US's sustained aerial campaign and Iran's pledge to abandon calibrated retaliation for full-scale offensive operations raise the spectre of a broader regional war, potentially drawing in Gulf states and disrupting global energy supplies.

Watch For

Monitor whether the US continues strikes beyond the two-to-three-day window set by Rezaei, which Iran says will trigger a shift to offensive operations. Watch for any confirmed IRGC attacks on US-linked targets in Bahrain and other Gulf states, as well as Iran's promised strikes on Gulf civilian infrastructure—particularly desalination plants—which could cause immediate humanitarian crises. Look for diplomatic interventions, such as Oman-mediated backchannel talks, and any IAEA or satellite imagery revealing damage to Iranian nuclear sites like Bushehr mentioned in related reports.