US mounts sixth straight night of attacks as Iran warns of wider war

SaveSharefacebookxwhatsapp-strokecopylinkIranians drive past an anti-US billboard featuring pictures of US President Donald Trump and his family, at Palestine Square in Tehran, Iran, on July 16 [Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA]By Al Jazeera StaffPublished On 16 Jul 202616 Jul 2026The United States has continued its attacks against Iran for a sixth consecutive night, with strikes targeting infrastructure in the country’s south, according to local media reports.The US military said it initiated its latest round of attacks at 18:00 GMT on Thursday, as Iranian media reported explosions and attacks in Qeshm Island, Bandar Abbas, Chabahar, Iranshahr and Bandar-e Khamir.Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that a US missile attack targeted an airport in Iranshahr, while another “enemy” attack hit a communications tower in Bandar Abbas, cutting off power in the area.Iran’s Fars news agency reported a suspected US attack on a bridge in Bandar-e Khamir.The attacks – days after US President Donald Trump threatened to potentially hit Iranian infrastructure – were the latest sign of peril for an interim US-Iran deal the two signed last month.Both sides have since accused the other of violating the memorandum of understanding (MoU) amid a week of spiralling hostilities.‘Time of uncertainty’Earlier on Thursday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed an attack on an airbase used by US forces in Bahrain, saying it was in response to what it called a “barbaric” US attack that forced the evacuation of a children’s cancer hospital in the southwestern city of Ahvaz.The IRGC also claimed further attacks on Kuwait and Jordan.Kuwait’s army said Iran’s attacks included 32 drones and targeted vital facilities, causing material damage.Iranian army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia warned Iran’s attacks “will spread to new areas” if the US attacks against it carry on.Al Jazeera’s Aksel Zaimovic, reporting from Doha, Qatar, said Gulf states are strengthening their air defences and military preparedness around crucial infrastructure “in this time of uncertainty”. US ‘always open to diplomacy’Earlier in the week, Trump threatened to target Iran’s power plants and bridges if the country did not return to the negotiating table, which Iranian Brigadier General Ebrahim Zolfaghari threatened would be met with a “crushing blow” on regional infrastructure.The US appeared to strike a more diplomatic tone on Thursday, with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt saying Trump would hold Iran “accountable”, but “is always open to diplomacy at the very same time”.“They [Iranian officials] have expressed they still want to make a deal to the president. We’re talking to them, but again, the president is not going to allow them to fire on ships in the strait without paying a consequence for that,” said Leavitt.Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday that Tehran has no plans to engage in talks with the US and is focused solely on defending the country.Sina Azodi, assistant professor of Middle East Politics at George Washington University, said both the US and Iran are “trying to force the other side to blink first and capitulate to the other side’s demands”.“The US side wants the Iranians to come back to the negotiations and yield to the American demands,” Azodi told Al Jazeera. “On the Iranian side, they want the United States to first lift the blockade and also fully implement that MoU that was reached.”