US strikes Iran and Bahrain; warns of incoming fire as clashes over shipping routes escalate
Bahrain activated its sirens early Friday, warning residents to shelter from detected fire hours after the U.S. military said it had wrapped up its 13th night of strikes against Iran.
The Gulf states have come under frequent fire over the past week as the U.S. and Iran exchange escalating strikes in fighting that began with a struggle over control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The previous day, Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels said they targeted two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, potentially widening the Iran war as international oil topped $100 a barrel.
Blasts were also reported Thursday on Iran's Qeshm Island, home to stores of naval assets including drone boats that Iran can use to attack vessels on the Strait of Hormuz, as well as to the northwest near Andimeshk, Omidiyeh and Firuzabad. Four people were killed and five wounded in a U.S. missile attack on the outskirts of Ahvaz on the Karun River, Iranian state media said.
U.S. Central Command said the latest barrage was designed to “further degrade Iran's ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting regional waters” as the Americans push to regain control over the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil and gas transited in peacetime. It said the strikes ended shortly before 5 a.m. local time Friday.
