US strikes Iran for seventh night in a row; Iranian forces launch strikes across Gulf

The United States and Iran exchanged strikes aimed at infrastructure and military targets on Saturday as their battle over the Strait of Hormuz intensified, with the US was shifting dozens of additional refueling aircraft to Israel, as US President Donald Trump weighs launching another massive bombing offensive against Iran.

The region has endured days of back-and-forth attacks in a conflict increasingly focused on control of the strait. The collapse of an interim ceasefire leaves no clear end in sight for the war that the US and Israel began more than four months ago.

The US Central Command said early Saturday that its seventh straight night of strikes had hit “surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities.”

Kuwait said Saturday it was intercepting Iranian missiles and drones, while Iraq said it had shot down attack drones over the city of Irbil. Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency said that the kingdom’s air defense systems had downed Iranian missiles, while air sirens sounded in Bahrain according to the government there.

Iranian officials say recent US strikes have killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds, with new casualties reported Friday, when the US military also acknowledged more injured service members.

Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition

by email and never miss our top stories

By signing up, you agree to the terms

Both sides also took aim at shipping traffic, with the US saying it was enforcing a naval blockade while Iran said it targeted vessels that violated its rules on navigating the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway for one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.

Iran effectively closed the strait to shipping traffic after the war started Feb. 28. That sent the price of oil soaring and gave Iran significant leverage in negotiations. The price of oil rose Friday above $86 a barrel, close to its highest level in a month, as crossings through the strait fell to a three-week low, according to an international shipping tracker.

In an address to the American public on Thursday evening, Trump insisted the war was going well. “We are likewise winning big in Iran, and you will see the fruits of that labor very, very shortly,” he said.

Before the war began, the US had been in talks with Iran over its nuclear program. Trump now faces political pressure to bring the war to a close and avoid the kind of prolonged Middle East conflict he had campaigned against.

Refueling jets to return

In a sign that the US was looking to expand the campaign, the US military was gearing up to send dozens of additional refueling aircraft to be based in Israel, to be used in the campaign.

The Axios news site reported Friday that the US had notified Israel that it was sending back the planes. The Israeli military on Saturday confirmed the report, but said that the incoming planes would be stationed at military bases, and not at Ben Gurion Airport.

US and Israeli officials told the Axios news site that Trump could escalate the strikes against Iran in the coming days, following consecutive nights of American bombing campaigns of targets across Iran, after the breakdown of last month’s MOU.

Israel has not been party the MOU and has also not been involved in the recent fighting.

However, Iran has reportedly told its regional allies, including Hezbollah, to prepare for the possibility of a broader conflict amid military escalations with the United States, raising the prospect of Israel becoming directly involved in the fighting.

There are currently 33 US aerial refueling tankers parked at Ben Gurion Airport, which has crowded out other planes used for commercial flights. Transportation Minister Miri Regev announced earlier this week that the number would drop to 20, as she tried to prevent summer flight disruptions.

The Axios news site first said the US “notified” Israel of the planned arrival of additional refuelers, suggesting Jerusalem doesn’t have a say in the matter, but the report later said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would have a final say on the issue.

The decision to send the tankers to Israeli airbases was made by the US in coordination with the Israeli military, which allowed the Israeli Air Force to make preparations, the military said.

The military said it was acting to enable the US’s deployment in Israel as much as possible while preserving Israel’s civilian aviation needs.

Hebrew media reports said that five to eight planes were slated to arrive per day.

Vigilant, lethal, and ready

The US military’s Central Command said Saturday  it concluded its latest round of attacks by hitting surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage and maritime capabilities.

“US forces employed fighter aircraft, aerial drones, and warships in addition to other assets,” Central Command said in a statement. “More than 50,000 American service members are operating across the Middle East and remain vigilant, lethal, and ready.”

https://t.co/7V8iGAGbGh

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) July 18, 2026

Iranian media reported on Saturday that several missiles struck power facilities and desalination pumps in the southern Iranian city of Jask, citing a local official. The official said drinking water had been cut off in villages in Jask due to the attack.

The US said its forces redirected four commercial vessels, disabled one, and boarded another to enforce its naval blockade of Iran.

In turn Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said four vessels violating its rules on shipping traffic were stopped from going through the strait with a combined missile and drone operation.

In addition, Iranian media, citing Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, reported that two oil tankers exploded and caught fire after passing through a mined route south of the strait. The US military labelled that report as false.

The US military’s Central Command said its targets included “military logistics infrastructure,” the first time it mentioned infrastructure in more than a week.

Iranian media reported enemy strikes early on Saturday in coastal Hormozgan Province on the Iranian side of the Strait of Hormuz. State TV said three people were killed and eight wounded while two bridges and a road tunnel were damaged.

Iranian media reported explosions heard or strikes carried out in Sirik, Ahvaz, Yazd, Jask and Khorramabad late Friday or early Saturday.

On Friday, Iranian state media said at least five bridges were struck in the south in US attacks. Seven people were reported killed in attacks on bridges in the southern port of Bandar Khamir, where a train station was also hit. An airport was reported hit further east and away from the coast in Iranshahr, in a province bordering Pakistan.

Iran acknowledged “attacks on power infrastructure” during the US airstrike campaign for the first time Friday when its Energy Ministry issued a call for people to use less power in southern provinces “experiencing extreme heat.” The ministry did not specify what was hit.

Trump has threatened to launch broad-based air strikes on Iran’s infrastructure and has also declined to rule out a ground assault on Iran’s coast or islands. US officials have said attacks on southern Iran are designed in part to give Trump options.

Such moves risk provoking Iran to attack the vital infrastructure of vulnerable Gulf states, or having its allies in Yemen further disrupt global energy supplies by attacking shipping from the Red Sea.

Kuwait shuts airspace amid strikes

Iran announced attacks on Gulf countries that host US airbases, including Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan, in addition to a US vessel in the northern Indian Ocean. Saudi Arabia’s civil defence issued early warnings, the first in several months, in at least two places but had yet to report any damage. Earlier in the war, Iran hit some of the oil-rich kingdom’s energy facilities.

In Kuwait, Iranian forces targeted an ammunition depot in the Al-Adiri camp, the headquarters buildings and ammunition depots in the Ali Al-Salem base and several communication bridges.

Authorities in Kuwait said one of the country’s power generation and water desalination stations had been hit in an Iranian attack, causing damage, a fire and the disruption of a large number of electricity generation units.

Iran does not claim, it acts. Iran will repel any aggression. Thick smoke plume in Kuwait after successful Iranian attacks

▪️ Kuwait announced that Iran had attacked a power plant and a desalination plant in the country. pic.twitter.com/LfY4MVzBae

— nilofareaabi80 (@nilofareaabi57) July 18, 2026

The Kuwaiti army later said it was responding to Iranian drone attacks.

Kuwait Airways later said it had rescheduled most flights after the country temporarily suspended operations at Kuwait International Airport following Iranian missile and drone attacks.

The airline had earlier said the rescheduling was due to the closure of Kuwaiti airspace.

In Jordan, fuel tanks at the Al-Azraq base were also targeted, the state broadcaster said on Telegram.

The Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain was also targeted, the Iranian army said, adding that it “is “one of the most important operational and logistical centres” for the US military in the region.

State news agency IRNA reported the Iranian navy fired a shore-to-sea cruise missile towards what it called a hostile US vessel in the northern Indian Ocean. Iran’s army said the missile launch caused “fear and panic” and forced the vessel to move out of range of Iran’s navy.

Iranian authorities said at least 46 people have been killed and more than 400 wounded in recent US strikes, including eight killed in a strike on a bridge Friday.

US officials acknowledged 13 additional US service members — 10 Army soldiers and three Navy sailors — had been injured since Monday, but offered no further details. Since the war began, 14 US service members have been killed and 427 wounded.