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What we covered today
• Expanding conflict: The US military completed its latest wave of strikes against Iran on Friday, Central Command said, marking the seventh consecutive night of its renewed bombing campaign. This comes after Tehran launched another wave in its widening series of attacks on US allies in the region.
• Tehran’s warnings: A top Iranian military adviser warned the US could face a “full-scale offensive” in the coming days if its barrage continues through the weekend. Tehran has also threatened key ports in Persian Gulf states in response to the US destroying a surveillance tower near the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency.
• Traffic in the strait: Six vessels transited the critical waterway in the past 24 hours according to MarineTraffic data, showing the increasing strain ships are under at one of the world’s busiest maritime passageways. Before the war, about 20% of the world’s oil was transported through the strait.
Jordan intercepted 10 Iranian missiles, state media reports
Jordan’s air defenses intercepted 10 Iranian missiles early Saturday, Reuters reported, citing Jordanian state media.
Neighboring countries have also come under fire early Saturday; Kuwait’s air defenses intercepted missiles as well, while Bahrain and Saudi Arabia issued warnings for residents to shelter in place.
US military completes latest wave of strikes against Iran
The US military completed its latest wave of strikes against Iran tonight at 9:30 p.m. ET, Central Command said, marking the seventh consecutive night of US strikes.
The strikes “hit surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities,” CENTCOM said in a post on X, adding that US forces used assets including fighter aircraft, aerial drones and warships.
The statement did not include additional details on the number of targets struck.
CENTCOM said it is “fully enforcing” the naval blockade against Iranian ports, which resumed earlier this week.
Kuwait repels drone attacks, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia issue warnings
Several Gulf kingdoms appeared to come under fire early Saturday, sounding alarms and urging residents to take shelter.
“Kuwait Air Defenses are currently responding to hostile drone threats,” the Kuwait army posted on X, adding that any explosions heard were the sounds of air defenses intercepting targets.
Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior also posted that its sirens had been activated, and that members of the public should seek safety.
Saudi Arabia briefly issued warnings in two locations – the Yanbu and Al-Kharj governorates – before lifting them several minutes later, saying the danger had passed.
CENTCOM says Iran's claim about oil tankers hitting mines in strait is false
US Central Command said Iran’s earlier claim that two oil tankers were damaged after hitting mines while trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz was false.
“Like most IRGC claims, this is false,” CENTCOM wrote in a post on X.
Iran’s state-run news agency reported early on Saturday that the tankers had caught fire from the mines, citing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
In a statement, the IRGC described the waterway as “now highly unsafe and completely closed.”
CNN cannot independently confirm Iran’s claims.
Yasha Saebi contributed reporting.
What to know about US strikes and the impact on the ground
The United States launched a new wave of airstrikes against Iran a short while ago, intending to “continue degrading Iranian military capabilities,” according to the US military.
This comes after the US destroyed a surveillance tower yesterday belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Iran’s southeastern coast, the military said.
Here’s what to know about the US strikes, now on their seventh consecutive day:
• A pattern: US strikes on Iranian bridges, railway junctures and power lines connecting key coastline cities appear to suggest a wider pattern by Washington intended to seize control of the Strait of Hormuz from Tehran.
• Iran’s response: Mohsen Rezaei, a top IRGC official and military adviser to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, warned of a “full-scale offensive” if the US persisted with military strikes against Iran. Tehran, so far, has been striking US allies in the region, which several Arab nations have fiercely criticized.
• Impact on people: The cities currently under attack are among Iran’s poorest and most ethnically diverse, home to large populations of minority communities distinct from Persian-majority centers like Tehran. Despite being home to much of Iran’s energy industry and commercial ports, these provinces have historically suffered from underinvestment, high unemployment and weaker infrastructure.
• Caught in the crosshairs: An Indian seafarer who went missing after an Iranian attack on his ship Sunday has been confirmed dead, the Forward Seamen Union of India said in a statement. This week, India ordered shipowners and operators not to deploy Indian seafarers on vessels traveling through the Strait of Hormuz amid renewed hostilities.
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.
CNN’s Mostafa Salem, Tim Lister, Leila Gharagozlou, Aida Karimi, Magdalena Sofia Vitores Moreno, Eyad Kourdi, Fadel Allassan, Davis Winkie, Dalia Abdelwahab and Sana Noor Haq contributed to the report.
6 vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz over past 24 hours, per open-source data
Six vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours according to MarineTraffic data, showing the increasing strain ships are under at one of the world’s busiest maritime passageways.
Among the vessels were two cargo ships and a tanker exiting the Strait of Hormuz, and two tankers and one cargo ship entering. These figures align with crossing rates over the past few days, as numbers have diminished.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump announced a plan to impose a 20% fee on all cargo moving through the waterway – a further strain on shipping in the region.
Since the start of the war, the strait has also seen increasing GPS spoofing — forms of navigation systems interference which causes ships’ locations to appear in false locations. It had declined until US-Iran negotiations unraveled earlier this month.
Iranian missiles injure soldiers in Kuwait, says Kuwaiti Army
A wave of Iranian missiles and drones injured “a number of” military personnel in Kuwait on Friday, the Kuwaiti Army said, after Tehran hit military camps and key infrastructure in the Gulf nation.
Kuwaiti forces intercepted a salvo after having “detected hostile ballistic missiles and drones” inside the country’s airspace, the army said in a statement.
Iran also “targeted army facilities and military camps with drones,” the statement said, “injuring a number of Kuwaiti Land Forces personnel while they were carrying out their duties.” All those injured were in a “stable” condition, the statement added.
A blaze had erupted at a power generation and water desalination plant in Kuwait following the attacks earlier on Friday, according to Kuwaiti authorities. The Gulf country has been among those most targeted by Iranian strikes since the US-Israeli attack in late February set off violence in the region.
This week, the Iranian military escalated strikes on US-allied nations in the Gulf after the US launched a spate of attacks on Iran – about a month after the two nations signed a tenuous ceasefire deal.
US launches new wave of strikes against Iran, Central Command says
The United States has launched a new wave of airstrikes against Iran on Friday, according to the US military.
US Central Command announced via social media that it “launched a round of strikes against Iran” beginning at 3 p.m. ET.
The announcement marks the seventh consecutive night of strikes by the US.
Continued US strikes risk “full-scale” retaliatory attacks, IRGC official warns
Mohsen Rezaei, a top Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) official and military adviser to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, warned the United States on Friday of a “full-scale offensive” if it persisted with military strikes against Iran.
“If US attacks continue for another two or three days, we will enter a phase of full-scale offensive operations,” state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) quoted Rezaei as saying in an interview.
The comments come on the seventh consecutive day of US strikes on Iran and Iranian retaliation at Arab US allies.
“No political border will be secure against Iran’s offensive forces,” Rezaei said and added that the United States should be required to pay financial reparations for what Iranian officials have characterized as attacks on civilian infrastructure, which the US denied.
Rezaei’s threats largely mirror ones recently made by US President Donald Trump, who had declared the already-fragile US-Iran ceasefire and memorandum of understanding “over” as the US launched new strikes on the country. Iran has retaliated by way of striking US bases within the territory of some of its Arab allies, including Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain.
Arab allies condemn Iranian strikes and renew calls for return to dialogue
Several Arab nations have fiercely criticized Tehran’s sweeping strikes on US allies in the region, after the Trump administration escalated deadly attacks on Iran this week.
The Iranian military hit several countries late Thursday through early Friday, including Oman, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar, where a child was wounded by falling shrapnel from an intercepted strike.
Elsewhere, in Iraq, an Iranian missile and drone attack killed nine fighters of an Iranian-Kurdish group, according to an official from the group.
Leaders in the region have issued stark condemnations and renewed their demands for diplomacy — though US and Iranian officials show no signs of letting up.
Here are some of the recent statements:
- Qatar: The Foreign Ministry in Qatar — where officials acted as key mediators for discussions between Tehran and Washington earlier this year — urged “a serious return to dialogue and negotiations” and “understandings reached through diplomatic efforts.”
- UAE: The United Arab Emirates’ foreign minister vehemently criticized the Iranian strike in Iraq, warning the attack presents a “flagrant violation of the Republic of Iraq’s and Iraqi Kurdistan’s sovereignty.”
- Jordan: The country’s foreign minister denounced “brutal Iranian attacks” as a “blatant breach of international law” and cautioned against a “dangerous escalation” in the wider region.
- Kuwait: The Kuwaiti foreign minister expressed “strong denunciation of recent reprehensible Iranian aggressions” on Bahrain, Qatar and Jordan, describing the attacks as a “direct threat to the security of their people.”
Another look at a bridge Iran says was struck by the US
Video footage from Reuters shows another angle of the aftermath of what Iran says were US strikes on bridges in the southern Iranian coastal city of Bandar Khamir.
We earlier reported on a photo released by state broadcaster IRIB and geolocated by CNN showed the damaged Kahurestan Bridge after it was reportedly hit by a US strike.
At least eight people were killed and 20 were injured in attacks on bridges in Hormozgan province overnight, according to Iran’s state-run news agency. The US targeted six bridges connecting several cities together near the Iranian coast in the south, including the key port city of Bandar Abbas overlooking the Strait of Hormuz.
CNN’s Mostafa Salem and Aida Karimi contributed to this report.
7 killed in Israeli strike on Gaza funeral, hospital says, one of the deadliest incidents in weeks
While the focus in the Middle East is on the US-Iran conflict, Gaza remains in turmoil despite last year’s ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hamas.
At least seven people have been killed by an Israeli air strike in central Gaza, according to a hospital in the area, the highest toll in a single incident for several weeks.
More than 20 people were injured in the strike, Al Awda hospital said in a statement.
The strike occurred at the funeral of Abdul Taher Wahid, according to local journalists, who was killed in a separate Israeli strike earlier in the day.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the strike targeted a cell of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in central Gaza. The IDF said the results of the strike were under review after “claims that several uninvolved individuals” were injured.
Hamas described the strike as a “renewed heinous crime and a systematic, ongoing violation of the ceasefire agreement.”
An uneasy ceasefire: 76 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in the last two weeks, according to Palestinian Health Ministry.
Despite the agreement last year, Hamas remains in control of about half the Gaza Strip and an International Stabilization Force is yet to be deployed.
This post has been updated with comment from the IDF.
US says it destroyed Iranian surveillance tower
The US destroyed a surveillance tower yesterday belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Iran’s southeastern coast, the military said today in a statement.
The destruction of the the Chah Bahar Shahid Kalantari Port surveillance tower in the port city of Chabahar will degrade the IRGC’s “ability to track and target commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” and to attack civilian crews, according to US Central Command.
“Furthermore, the strike protects freedom of navigation in regional waters for all vessels, except for ships attempting to violate the ongoing US naval blockade against Iran,” the military added.
The attack on the facility comes as the US has been working to curb Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz.
US military and Syrian officials dispute Iranian claim of attack on base in Syria
The United States military and a Syrian official have pushed back at Iranian claims of attacking a US base in southern Syria on Thursday night.
In its first comment on the claim, US Central Command (CENTCOM) posted on X: “CLAIM: Iranian forces claim they attacked al-Tanf Garrison in Syria and captured or killed American troops in the process. FALSE. FACT: No U.S. troops in the region have recently been killed or captured.”
A Syrian army officer, who is deployed in the area close to the Iraqi and Jordanian borders with Syria, also told CNN : “The reports are untrue, no shelling occurred yesterday, and there are no US troops at the base.”
Without providing proof, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed to have targeted the US base at al-Tanf in what it said was retaliation for deadly US strikes in Iranshahr, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
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.
Indian seafarer who went missing in Strait of Hormuz confirmed dead
An Indian seafarer who went missing after an attack on his ship on Sunday has been confirmed dead, the Forward Seamen Union of India said in a statement.
Herambh Karmarkar, 30, was serving as a third engineer on the MV GFS Galaxy in the Gulf of Oman, near the Strait of Hormuz, when the vessel was struck by Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces.
“While 10 other Indian crew members were rescued, Mr. Karmarkar, who was on duty in the engine room, went missing initially,” the statement said. “His death was confirmed by the ship operators to the family on 15 July 2026.”
This week, India ordered shipowners and operators not to deploy Indian seafarers on vessels traveling through the Strait of Hormuz amid renewed hostilities in the region.
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.
“Unbearable” uncertainty: Iran's poorest region bears the brunt of US airstrikes
Iranians across coastal cities are bearing the brunt of renewed US strikes, as the region gets pulled into the US attempts to curb Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz.
“Two nights ago, they hit Ahvaz hard, my cousin’s wife died from the bombing, we went to the funeral yesterday. And then last night they again hit Ahvaz, it felt like they levelled the city,” a man from the southwestern city told CNN.
The cities currently being targeted are among Iran’s poorest and most ethnically diverse, home to large populations of minority communities distinct from Persian-majority centers like Tehran.
There have long been tensions with the central government, but residents of these provinces have historically suffered from underinvestment, high unemployment, and weaker infrastructure, despite the region being home to much of Iran’s energy industry and commercial ports.
As airstrikes hit the region’s main cities, some residents say they are attempting to live normally, while others, like a business owner in Ahvaz, say the situation could become a humanitarian disaster.
“It’s already 50°C (112 F), and now people are dealing with war on top of constant power cuts,” they said.
The cities and towns in southern Iran are no stranger to war. The residents bore the brunt of the fighting during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s.
“You know, I was only a child during Iran-Iraq war, and now my kids are experiencing war as well- it’s something I just never wanted for them to live through. We are used to difficulty; we are used to hardship, but the uncertainty day in and day out feels sometimes unbearable.”
Tanker involved in "incident" with military near Oman, UK Navy says
The UK Navy says it has received a report of an incident off the coast of Oman involving a tanker and military forces in the area.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it had received a report “of an incident involving a merchant vessel and military forces” about 100 miles east of the Omani port of Duqm.
UKMTO provided no further details beyond saying the source for the report was “military authorities.” The incident is said to have occurred Thursday.
It’s unclear whether the vessel, which was not identified, was intercepted as part of the renewed US naval blockade of ships using Iranian ports.
CNN is seeking comment from the US military.
On Thursday, US Central Command said that Marines from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit had conducted “a verification boarding aboard M/T Wen Yao in the Gulf of Oman.”
The Wen Yao is a sanctioned tanker registered in Curacao that has been renamed as the Lan Jing.
The ship’s latest position, reported Thursday, was in the same area as the report from UKMTO.
What the US strike strategy on Iran is telling us
American precision strikes on Iranian bridges, railway junctures and power lines connecting key coastline cities appears to suggest a wider pattern by Washington intended to seize control of the Strait of Hormuz from Tehran.
According to Iran analyst Hamidreza Azizi, the strategy behind the strikes is to disrupt the logistics and mobility of Iranian military forces in the south. Azizi also suggests this could be preparation for a potential deployment of ground forces.
For six consecutive days, the US has unleashed waves of strikes on Iranian coastal targets — the most intense since the April ceasefire — hitting missile storage and launch sites, air defense systems, and coastal surveillance facilities, all of which reinforce Iran’s control over shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Intensifying strikes on infrastructure to cut off logistical supplies while targeting current Revolutionary Guard radar installations and naval facilities, suggests that the campaign may “extend beyond simply degrading Iran’s ability to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” Azizi says.
Officials said this week that destroying targets like missile launchers and radars could also lay the groundwork for the larger US military operations Trump has been mulling. The US has carried out daily strikes on Iranian positions along the Strait of Hormuz, including Wednesday on tiny Greater Tunb Island in the Strait of Hormuz, which has acted as a base for the Iranian military.
US-Iran conflict intensifies as wider Middle East comes under Iranian fire. Catch up here
As US forces marked a sixth consecutive night of airstrikes against Iran, Iranian retaliation expanded. Jordan, Qatar and Kuwait have each endured Iranian fire, with Iran also claiming to have targeted US military facilities in Bahrain and Syria.
Here’s what to know:
• US forces struck several bridges in southern Iran’s Hormozgan province overnight, killing at least eight and wounding 20, according to Iranian media. The bridges were on routes connected to the city of Bandar Abbas, a coastal city on the Strait of Hormuz, which is home to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval base.
• Iran struck a power generation and water desalination plant in Kuwait — a Gulf state frequently targeted by Iran since the conflict emerged in February — causing a fire and prompting the government to urge residents to conserve electricity during the sweltering summer heat. Today’s forecast high for Kuwait is 46°C (115°F).
• Iran also claimed to have targeted US facilities across the Middle East in retaliation to the country’s relentless pummeling from US forces.
• An Iranian missile and drone attack has killed nine fighters from an Iranian-Kurdish group based in neighboring Iraq, according to an official from the group.
• In the UK, a 39-year-old man has been charged with assisting Iran’s intelligence service, London’s Metropolitan Police said.
• Oil prices are expected to end the week higher as the US-Iran conflict intensifies and fire continues to be exchanged. Prices briefly tumbled last month after the US and Iran agreed to a 60-day ceasefire, an agreement now in tatters.
CNN’s Lex Harvey, Kareem El Damanhoury, Brad Lendon, Kara Fox, Anna Cooban, Mostafa Salem and Aida Karimi contributed reporting.
