A seventh wave of US airstrikes hit Iran overnight on Friday, targeting bridges and port infrastructure near the Strait of Hormuz — one of the world's most critical shipping lanes. The strikes came hours after Tehran warned that any further US military action would trigger a return to full-scale offensive operations. Washington pressed ahead regardless. The raids struck a bridge in Bandar Khamir County, in southern Iran close to the strait, as well as a surveillance tower at a port facility.

The damage was severe enough that Iranian officials issued an unusual public appeal: they called on ordinary citizens to reduce their electricity consumption, citing pressure on power infrastructure for the first time since the campaign began. That appeal alone signalled how deeply the strikes are now cutting into civilian systems. Iran did not absorb the blows passively. Tehran launched retaliatory attacks on US military installations across the Gulf, hitting sites in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar.

The strike on Kuwait caused significant collateral damage, destroying part of a desalination and electricity plant — infrastructure that millions of people in the region depend on for drinking water. The widening circle of affected countries is reshaping diplomatic calculations across the Gulf Cooperation Council. Since the US campaign began on June 22, 2026, Iran says 38 people have been killed and more than 400 injured on its soil. The death toll remains relatively low compared with the scale of the strikes, which analysts attribute to Iran's civil-defence preparations.