US strikes hit Iran for seventh consecutive night

The US military said it carried out the seventh night of strikes on Iran since President Donald Trump declared the temporary ceasefire agreement was “over”.

US Central Command (Centcom) said its forces “hit surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities”.

Iran said it responded by targeting US allies in the region including Kuwait, which said a power plant and an oil facility had been hit.

“Another electricity and water distillation plant was targeted by a hostile attack that led to a fire erupting in one of the plant’s components,” with some power generation units deactivated, the ministry of electricity and water said.

Later on Saturday, Kuwait’s state news agency said an oil facility had suffered significant damage and some people had been injured in “repeated Iranian attacks”.

Jordan’s military also said it had intercepted 10 Iranian missiles fired into its airspace overnight. No damage was reported. Bahrain also said its air defences had “thwarted” Iranian attacks.

Centcom said it had ended its strikes at 21:30 ET (02:30 BST) after several hours.

“US forces employed fighter aircraft, aerial drones, and warships in addition to other assets,” it said in its statement.

Explosions were heard in the central city of Yazd and at Qeshm island and the port of Bandar Abbas next to the strait, Iranian state media reported.

BBC Persian has verified two videos showing damage and debris on and near the twin Shahid Mirzaei tunnels, a route running north of Bandar Abbas.

Local authorities also said an attack on electricity facilities and desalination pumps at a plant near Jask had left about 10,000 people in 20 villages without drinking water.

Meanwhile more than 100 telecommunications masts have been knocked out of service, disrupting landline, mobile and internet services in northern Hormozgan province.

The US and Iran agreed to stop fighting in June to enable talks to end the war.

The ceasefire was largely observed, even though there were Iranian attacks on oil tankers to force them to comply with Tehran’s demands that ships seek authorisation to cross the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranian attacks on shipping were followed by US strikes against Iran.

However, the talks appeared to make no headway and Trump declared the ceasefire over last week.

Since then, in addition to attacking Iranian sites, the US has also re-imposed a naval blockade of Iranian ports.

Iran has declared the Strait closed to shipping and traffic has largely stopped.

A fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas used to transit through the strait and the head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, has said he has concerns about global energy supplies.

The US military has also denied a report in Iran’s Fars news agency that two oil tankers “exploded and caught fire while passing through a mined route south of the Strait of Hormuz”. Centcom said: “Like most IRGC claims, this is false.”