What to know
• Latest strikes: The US military completed its latest wave of airstrikes against Iran at 9:40 p.m. ET Thursday, US Central Command said. It was the sixth consecutive night of strikes by US forces. While US bombing has largely focused on southern Iran, some recent strikes have reached deep inside the country.
• Iran widens attacks: Qatar, Kuwait, and Jordan have come under Iranian fire as the conflict shows no sign of de-escalating. The Iranian military also claimed it targeted US military forces in Bahrain and Syria.
• Days of escalation: Neither side has publicly signaled willingness to return to negotiations. Iran has warned the Strait of Hormuz is an “unbreakable red line” and responded harshly to US President Donald Trump’s threats to hit Iranian infrastructure.
Iran claims to have targeted US forces in Syria: state media
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed to have targeted US forces in al-Tanf, Syria, in what it said was retaliation for deadly US strikes in Iranshahr, according to a statement reported Friday by semi-official Tasnim news agency.
CNN could not independently verify the claim and has reached out to US Central Command.
US military forces departed the strategic al-Tanf garrison in February after more than a decade, amid a broader transition to a smaller US footprint in Syria, US Central Command said in announcement at the time.
The IRGC said that as long as US action in the Strait of Hormuz continues, “not a single drop of oil or gas will be exported from the region.”
Yasha Saebi contributed reporting.
Qatar fends off another round of Iranian attacks, Bahrain activates sirens again
Qatar, a key negotiator throughout the conflict, appeared to come under Iranian fire for the second time on Friday morning local time with its defense ministry announcing it was intercepting a number of air attacks.
A second government security alert was sent out to mobile phones and several loud booms were heard in Qatar’s capital Doha, reported Reuters.
Earlier on Friday, a child was wounded by falling shrapnel from an intercepted strike from Iran, Qatar’s interior ministry said.
Iran has not claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
Meanwhile in Bahrain, sirens were activated for the second time on Friday morning, the country’s interior ministry said.
Iran’s military claimed it targeted US military assets in Bahrain, according to state media IRNA. Video released by state media outlet IRIB on Friday purportedly showed drones being launched toward Bahrain. CNN has reached out to US Central Command for comments.
Several bridges targeted in US strikes on southern Iran: state media
Several bridges in southern Iran’s Hormozgan province were hit in the latest round of US strikes, the governor’s office said, according to Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency.
Many of the bridges that were targeted were on routes connected to the city of Bandar Abbas, a coastal city on the Strait of Hormuz which is home to a Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval base.
Earlier, Fars reported a railway junction in Bandar Abbas had been hit. Iran’s energy ministy said power lines in Bandar Abbas and surrounding villages were damaged, according to semi-official Tasnim News Agency.
A photo released by state broadcaster IRIB and geolocated by CNN showed a damaged Kahurestan Bridge, linking Bandar Abbas to the city of Shiraz, after it was reportedly hit by a US strike.
At least seven people were killed and nine were wounded, reported multiple state media outlets.
CNN could not independently verify Iran’s claims, and has reached out to US Central Command for comment.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to strike Iran’s bridges and power plants if Tehran does not return to the negotiating table.
Yasha Saebi contributed reporting.
Child wounded after Iranian attack on Qatar, Interior Ministry says
A child was wounded following an Iranian attack on Qatar Friday morning, the country’s Interior Ministry said.
The child was hurt by a piece of falling shrapnel from an intercepted strike and is receiving treatment, the ministry said.
Earlier, Qatar’s Defense Ministry said it had intercepted a missile attack targeting the country. CNN journalists in Doha reported hearing loud bangs.
Iran has not acknowledged the attack so far.
Qatar, which has a relatively friendlier relationship with Iran, has served as a key negotiator throughout the conflict.
Trump barely mentioned the Iran conflict in wartime, primetime address
President Donald Trump sought a rare primetime address in wartime to speak directly to the American people, but he did not use the opportunity to clearly lay out his case for a path forward for the conflict in Iran that has escalated in recent days.
In fact, he barely mentioned the war.
The United States, he added, is “winning big in Iran, and you will see the fruits of that labor very, very shortly.”
That was the president’s only reference to the conflict, as strikes have intensified throughout the week following the total breakdown of a ceasefire agreement.
The US military said Thursday it launched a wave of airstrikes for the sixth consecutive night, and CNN has reported that Trump is now receiving options for expanding the US military operation in Iran as he weighs next steps.
But Americans are skeptical of Trump’s strategy, with gas prices and the cost of living ticking up at home. A new Washington Post-Ipsos poll released Thursday reveals that just 29% of Americans approve of the president’s handling of the Iran conflict.
US military completes latest wave of strikes against Iran
The US military completed what it called its latest “major wave” of strikes against Iran at 9:40 p.m. ET Thursday, US Central Command said in a social media post, following days of escalation.
“US forces, including fighter jets, aerial drones, and warships, launched precision munitions that hit dozens of Iranian military targets such as coastal surveillance and air defense sites, military logistics infrastructure, and maritime capabilities,” CENTCOM said in a post on X.
CENTCOM did not provide additional details on the number of targets it struck, but added in the statement that US forces are “holding Iran accountable for recent attacks on commercial shipping.”
Qatar says it intercepted missile attack after loud bangs heard in Doha
Qatar’s Ministry of Defense said on X early Friday morning local time it intercepted a missile attack targeting the country.
Loud bangs were heard earlier in Doha, CNN journalists on the ground said.
A government alert sent to mobile phones, seen by CNN, said the threat level was elevated and urged residents to remain home and in safe places, but the alert did not suggest a reason for the loud noises heard.
The government shortly after sent out another mobile alert saying the threat had been eliminated and that the situation had “returned to normal.”
While Iran has repeatedly struck military bases in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, it has refrained from striking Qatar in recent days. Iran has not said if it had struck Qatar Friday morning.
Qatar, which has a relatively friendlier relationship with Iran, has served as a key negotiator throughout the conflict.
Earlier this week, Qatar condemned Iran’s repeated attacks on Arab countries in the Persian Gulf region and broader Middle East.
This post has been updated with additional information.
Kuwait fends off attacks and sirens sound in Bahrain
Kuwait said early Friday morning local time it was responding to missile and drone threats, while sirens were activated in Bahrain.
In an update on X, Kuwait’s Ministry of Information said explosions may be heard as air defense systems intercept attacks and told residents to follow authorities’ instructions.
Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior told residents to take shelter.
The US earlier launched airstrikes against Iran for the sixth consecutive night.
Iranians urged to limit AC use as energy infrastructure is damaged in US strikes
Iran’s energy ministry has called on Iranians to limit their use of air conditioning to allow for a more stable supply of electricity to the southern parts of Iran.
The ministry’s head of public relations, Hossein Moghimi, told semi-official Tasnim News Agency that following attacks in places like Bandar Abbas in southern Iran, power lines were damaged, causing supply disruptions to the city and surrounding areas . While power has been restored to some locations, the ministry urged people in other parts of Iran to limit their electricity usage to help residents in south of the country.
Temperatures in southern Iran have recently soared above 50 degrees Celsius (120 Fahrenheit), according to Iranian state media.
Multiple areas of Iran report explosions as US launches more airstrikes
Explosions have rocked multiple areas of Iran this evening as the US continues its sixth consecutive night of airstrikes against the country.
The reported targets have been spread across southern Iran from the southwest and Persian Gulf coast to the far southeast near the Pakistani border. CNN is unable to independently verify the Iranian claims.
- Qeshm Island: Eight explosions were reported near Masan village on Iran’s Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday evening, the semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported. It said US fighter jets were also seen flying over the island.
- Bandar Khamir: Iran’s port city of Bandar Khamir on the Strait of Hormuz came under attack by US forces this evening. According to Tasnim, two bridges were were struck in Khamir County, the Geryveh Bridge and the Kahurestan Bridge, linking Bandar Abbas to Shiraz, the fifth-most populous city in Iran. At least seven people were killed and nine were injured, reported multiple state media outlets.
- Bandar Abbas: A railway junction was hit according to semi-official Fars News Agency. Iran’s energy ministy said power lines in Bandar Abbas and surrounding villages were damaged, reports semi-official Tasnim News Agency,
- Bandar Lengeh: The Hormozgan governor’s office said several locations near Bandar Lengeh were hit by projectiles at 1:30 a.m. local time, according to semi-official Tasnim News Agency
- Bushehr: Two explosions were heard in the Persian Gulf port city of Bushehr in southwestern Iran, according to Bushehr’s governor. At least one person was injured when Bushehr came under attack for the second time, the governor said.
- Ahvaz: Locations on the outskirts of Ahvaz, a key industrial hub in the southwestern corner of Iran, were targeted by US forces, the deputy governor for security and law enforcement in surrounding Khuzestan province told Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). He added that authorities are assessing the incident and that additional details regarding the attack, possible damage and response measures would be announced in due course.
- Iranshahr: The provincial capital of far southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province, which borders Pakistan, also came under fire Thursday evening, Tasnim reported. According to the report, residents heard three powerful explosions coming from the vicinity of Iranshahr’s airport, and local reports indicated that the airport came under a heavy attack. According to IRNA, residents of Iranshahr heard a sudden blast-like sound that shook parts of the city at around 11 p.m. local time. Official sources were quoted as saying that a location in the vicinity of Iranshahr was struck by an American projectile.
- Hamidiyeh County: Approximately six explosions were heard in the vicinity of Hamidiyeh County in southwestern Iran, state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) reported Thursday night.
- Lorestan Province: An area in Chegeni County was hit, semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported.
This post has been updated with additional reports from across the country.
It's just past midnight in Tehran. Here's what you need to know
The US military said it launched a wave of airstrikes against Iran for the sixth consecutive night on Thursday, as the conflict shows little sign of abating.
At least three explosions were heard in western Bandar Abbas, a major Iranian port city in the Strait of Hormuz, according to state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.
US Central Command said it launched the airstrikes, which started around 9:30 p.m. local time (2 p.m. ET), “to further degrade Iranian military capabilities.”
If you’re just joining us, catch up on the latest headlines below:
• A quick recap: First, a refresher on how the last few days of strikes have unfolded. The US bombing campaign has largely focused on southern Iran, but some recent strikes have notably reached deeper inside the country. Iran has been targeting Persian Gulf neighbors in retaliatory attacks, including in Kuwait, where the country’s Defense Ministry said air defenses had intercepted 32 drones since dawn on Thursday. Falling debris caused damage in some residential areas, but no casualties were reported, according to the ministry.
• Oil shipments: A US naval blockade on Iranian ports remains in place, and shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has dropped over the past 24 hours even from its previously diminished levels. The White House pushed back Thursday on concerns that renewed hostilities are once again spiking oil and gas prices. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed price hikes as “temporary disruptions in the oil market.”
• Escalating rhetoric: Iran’s Foreign Ministry accused the US of “war crimes” for targeting civilian infrastructure in the country, while defending its own attacks on commercial shipping and neighboring Arab states as acts of self-defense. US President Donald Trump has renewed his threats to strike Iranian bridges and power plants in recent days. Tehran also warned Thursday that US interference in the Strait of Hormuz is an “unbreakable red line.”
CNN’s Davis Winkie, Sophie Tanno, Hira Humayun, Dalia Abdelwahab, Avery Schmitz, Betsy Klein and Aida Karimi contributed to this report.
Strait of Hormuz traffic continues to drop
Shipping traffic has dropped over the past 24 hours from its already diminished levels, with just three ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours, according to open-source data from MarineTraffic.
Two vessels moved into the Persian Gulf — one cargo ship and one tanker — while one tanker departed.
Before the war, an average of about 110 ships transited the strait daily.
GPS spoofing — a type of navigational interference that makes ships’ broadcast positions show up in the wrong places — remains a concern across the region. The disruption has continued for months, sometimes throwing vessels’ reported coordinates off by dozens of miles and making traffic through the waterway harder to monitor.
Iranian attacks cause damage in Kuwait, Defense Ministry says
Waves of Iranian drones caused material damage in Kuwait, the Persian Gulf country’s Defense Ministry said Thursday.
The attacks targeted “several vital facilities,” and interception operations caused debris to fall in residential areas, resulting in damage but no casualties, the ministry added.
Kuwait said it intercepted 32 “hostile drones” in its airspace since dawn Thursday.
Explosions heard in Iran's Bandar Abbas, Iranian state media reports
Three explosions have been heard in western Bandar Abbas, a major port city on the southern coast of the country, Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) reported Thursday evening local time.
The source of the explosions is currently unknown, the report added.
It comes after the US Central Command announced a fresh wave of US airstrikes against Iran.
US launches more strikes on Iran
The US has launched another wave of airstrikes against Iran, marking a sixth consecutive night, according to the US military.
US Central Command, the Tampa-based headquarters overseeing US troops in the conflict, announced the strikes via social media.
The command said the airstrikes, which started around 9:30 p.m. local time (2 p.m. ET) on Thursday, aim “to further degrade Iranian military capabilities.”
White House downplays price increases as "temporary disruptions in the oil market"
The White House is pushing back on concerns that renewed hostilities with Iran are again spiking oil and gas prices.
There “may be temporary disruptions in the oil market,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, but she praised President Donald Trump’s energy policies and “swift actions” for preventing “massive increases in the price of oil that so many warned about.”
The national average price of a gallon of gas is $3.94, according to AAA. The price has been creeping back up in recent days after a ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran imploded. One year ago today, the average price of a gallon of gas was $3.16, per AAA.
Leavitt touted the administration’s moves to release oil through the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a waiver of the Jones Act, and the use of the Defense Production Act for oil production in California — casting all those efforts as responsible for leading to “a rather stable oil market.”
Trump’s priority, she added, was to ensure Iran “can never obtain a nuclear weapon.”
Americans are questioning the administration’s strategy, however. A new Washington Post-Ipsos poll released Thursday showed 33% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the economy and just 29% approve of how he is handling the war with Iran.
Iran accuses US of war crimes for targeting civilian infrastructure
Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the United States of “war crimes” for targeting civilian infrastructure in its strikes on the country, while defending its own attacks on neighboring Arab states in the Persian Gulf as acts of self defense.
In a statement Thursday, the ministry accused the US of committing “numerous war crimes, particularly by targeting civilian facilities and infrastructure.”
Such attacks “constitute a flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations and the fundamental rules of international law,” the ministry said.
The statement defended Iran’s strikes on neighboring nations, describing them as “defensive” and “consistent with Iran’s inherent and lawful right of self-defense under international law and Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations.”
It made no mention of recent Iranian strikes on commercial shipping or previous missile and drone attacks on residential buildings, hotels, civilian airports and major energy and water facilities in various gulf states. Among them was a June 3 strike on Kuwait International Airport that heavily damaged a passenger terminal, killed one person and injured more than 60 others, and an attack late last month that Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said caused major damage to a residential building.
As examples of the alleged US war crimes, the Iranian Foreign Ministry pointed to airstrikes early Wednesday on a mineral water production facility in Dehloran county, near the border with Iraq, and a strike on a maritime traffic control center in Chabahar in in southeastern Iran overnight on Tuesday into Wednesday.
The statement said that “many other similar attacks are among the war crimes committed by the American aggressors during the past week alone.”
Collapse of US-Iran talks risks "forever war," expert says
A regional expert has warned that the US and Iran risk entering a “forever war” as they continue to trade strikes after ceasefire talks were derailed.
“It took about two months to negotiate a page and a half of the memorandum of understanding … It took only three weeks for it to unravel,” said Ali Vaez, a senior adviser and the Iran project director at the International Crisis Group.
The two sides agreed to a shaky ceasefire in April and signed the memorandum in June. It was supposed to set the stage for talks on a permanent end to the fighting, Iran’s nuclear program, long-term administration of the Strait of Hormuz and other key regional issues.
Vaez said the initial agreement failed to take hold because Iran and the US tried to “enforce their own interpretation” of the 14-point document.
Behind the fiery threats, Iran is still signaling openness to diplomacy
Diplomatic gains have reversed over the past week after the US attacked Iranian cities in response to Tehran’s strikes on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
And in a familiar pattern, US President Donald Trump once again threatened to strike Iranian bridges and power plants, prompting the Iranian military to issue counterthreats of expanding its targets across the region and blocking other maritime straits.
In four months of hostilities, Iran and the US have exchanged similar threats and engaged in tit-for-tat military escalation, yet diplomacy has continued. Despite this latest round of strikes being the most intense since the April ceasefire, Iranian officials have yet to follow Trump in declaring the truce “over.”
Since the war began, Iran has been keen to demonstrate its ability to withstand pressure and respond to any escalation by inflicting pain of its own. It has sought to send a clear signal that it too possesses military options, and will use them. This round is no different.
“If America’s hostile actions against Iran continue, the Islamic Republic’s response will be beyond the enemy’s calculations, and new arenas of confrontation will be formed,” the Iranian army spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia reiterated, according to Iranian state-affiliated media.
Amid growing domestic pressure and US threats to withdraw from the agreement, Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, warned that Iran could also abandon the deal and resume the war. Yet in the same breath he signaled that diplomacy remains equally important — and the deal remains in place.
“We have never sought war and we are not seeking it now,” the negotiator and speaker of parliament said in a statement Wednesday, “but we must always be prepared for confrontation.”
India orders halt to Indian seafarers crossing Hormuz
India has ordered shipowners and operators not to deploy the country’s seafarers on vessels traveling through the Strait of Hormuz amid renewed hostilities in the region.
“No deployment of Indian seafarers on vessels undertaking voyages involving passage through the Strait of Hormuz until further orders,” the Directorate General of Shipping said in a notice issued late Wednesday.
The notice referred to several recent drone attack on shipping in and around the strait, in which two Indian seafarers have been killed.
India is the world’s third-largest supplier of seafarers, with more than 300,000 sailors working across global shipping fleets, according to the government.
An estimated 15,000 Indian seafarers are still stranded on the west of the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Forward Seamen’s Union of India.
