US Hits Bridges and Transport Infrastructure in Latest Strikes on Iran as Regional Tensions Escalate

The United States struck bridges and transport infrastructure across southern Iran on Thursday, marking a sixth consecutive night of American attacks and shattering a month-old ceasefire deal meant to end fighting that began with massive US-Israeli strikes in late February. Iranian state media reported strikes on two bridges, a railway station, and an airport in Hormozgan province near the Strait of Hormuz, with three people killed in the bridge attacks.

US Central Command said the strikes aimed to further degrade Iranian military capabilities. Tehran responded by targeting American allies across the Gulf: Kuwait’s air defenses engaged missile and drone attacks early Friday, and Bahrain sounded air raid sirens. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they struck a US airbase in Jordan with ballistic missiles, describing it as retaliation for an American strike near a children’s cancer hospital outside Ahvaz — an attack that prompted the hospital’s evacuation and drew condemnation from Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, who called it barbaric.

A 34-year-old Ahvaz teacher named Hani described the bombardment as intense, telling reporters he counted at least a dozen explosions. Two earlier explosions also hit Bushehr, home to Iran’s only civilian nuclear plant, which state TV characterized as continued American aggression.

The collapse comes just a month after Pakistan helped broker a preliminary US-Iran agreement, briefly reopening Hormuz to shipping. Tehran shut the strait again last week, saying it would remain closed until American strikes stop — and a senior Iranian military spokesman reiterated Thursday that Iran would never back down over the waterway, one of the world’s most critical oil and gas corridors. Washington has simultaneously reimposed its naval blockade on Iranian ports, boarding vessels in the Gulf of Oman and redirecting three ships since the blockade resumed.

The diplomatic language on both sides has hardened even as officials gesture toward talks. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump remains open to diplomacy but won’t let Iran fire on ships in the strait without consequence, while Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that any deal only matters if its terms are actually honored. Pakistan’s foreign office has urged both sides to return to technical-level talks under the memorandum it mediated.

The stakes keep rising on both sides of the threat ledger: Trump has warned of hitting Iranian power plants next, while Iran’s military has vowed to crush regional infrastructure in response. Iranian officials say US strikes have killed at least 30 people since last week — a toll that, absent a return to the negotiating table, seems likely to climb further as both sides signal no near-term willingness to de-escalate.