US strikes bridges and collapses a tower at a key port as its Iran
campaign expands
[July 17, 2026]
By JON GAMBRELL
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States expanded its
airstrike campaign against Iran early Friday by hitting more bridges,
electricial equipment and collapsing a tower at a key Iranian port, part
of U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to start striking
infrastructure to pressure Tehran to ease its chokehold on the Strait of
Hormuz. Iran launched new missile attacks against U.S.-allied nations in
the Middle East, including Qatar, a key mediator in the war.
The interim ceasefire agreed to last month has collapsed, and the region
has endured days of back-and-forth attacks by the U.S. and Iran as they
battle for control of the strait. Iranian officials say U.S. strikes
have killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds of others, with new
casualties reported in Friday’s strikes.
When the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran
effectively closed the strait to shipping traffic, a move that sent the
price of oil soaring and gave Iran major leverage in negotiations.
Speaking in a primetime address to the American public, 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,” Trump said.
Bridges and 'electrical infrastructure' hit in Iran
The U.S. airstrikes hit bridges overnight into Friday in Iran’s southern
Hormozgan province, killing at least seven people, Iranian state
television reported. The attacks hit Bandar Khamir, a city on Iran’s
coast on the Strait of Hormuz.
The highway and railway bridge strikes appeared aimed at cutting off
Bandar Abbas, Iran’s main port, from roads leading into the Islamic
Republic’s central region onward to Tehran, the capital.
While other routes still are open, the U.S. strikes could expand
further, potentially disrupting both the movement of military materiel
and goods needed for Iran’s 90 million people.
Iran also acknowledged “attacks on power infrastructure” during the U.S.
airstrike campaign for the first time Friday when its Energy Ministry
issued a call for people to use less power in southern provinces.
It said those areas “are currently experiencing extreme heat and attacks
on power infrastructure.” The ministry did not elaborate on whether it
was power plants, transmission lines or other equipment that had been
attacked.
Such strikes on power infrastructure had been suspected for days. Tehran
city councilman Mehdi Chamran told journalists asking about electrical
problems on Tuesday, “Just look at how many power facilities they hit …
and you wouldn’t be asking that question.”
Tower at key port collapses in US strike
The U.S. military’s Central Command said it hit dozens of targets in its
latest airstrikes, which concluded at dawn Friday, the sixth night in a
row of American attacks.
The strikes also collapsed a tower at Iran’s Chabahar port on the Gulf
of Oman, a key trade route for landlocked, neighboring Afghanistan, the
state-run IRNA news agency reported.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared the image of the surveillance
tower collapsing, part of his effort to assert American control over the
strait. That image had circulated social media via activists prior to
Hegseth sharing it.
Chabahar port, which Iran had been running with support from India, has
been a repeated target of American airstrikes. Iranian state media
acknowledged a third round of strikes on the facility without
immediately acknowledging the tower’s collapse.
Iran described the tower as overseeing commercial traffic into the port.
However, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard also operates at ports
across the country.
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A woman flashes a victory sign while walking at Tehran's traditional
main bazaar, Iran, Thursday, July 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
As of 6 a.m. Friday, the U.S. strikes had killed at least 38 people
and wounded more than 400 in Iran, Health Ministry spokesperson
Hossein Kermanpour said.
Iran retaliates by targeting Qatar, a mediator in the war
On Friday, Qatar twice warned the public to take shelter as a
barrage of Iranian missiles targeted the nation. People heard
explosions overhead as air defenses fired to intercept the missiles.
Qatar’s Interior Ministry said falling debris wounded a child.
Qatar, along with Pakistan, is a key mediator in trying to reach an
end to the Iran war. But talks have broken down over Iran’s
chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran also targeted Bahrain and Kuwait early Friday. Jordan's
military said it intercepted three incoming missiles Friday morning
launched by Iran.
Explosions also could be heard Friday morning in Irbil and
Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region as air
defenses targeted incoming fire. The attack apparently targeted the
Iranian Kurdish dissident group Komala, killing at least nine people
and wounding others, said an official who spoke on condition of
anonymity for security reasons.
Iran did not immediately claim the attack but has targeted Komala in
the past.
Also on Friday, a tanker came under attack traveling through the
Strait of Hormuz taking the route closest to Oman, the British
military said.
The report from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center
said the ship sustained minor damage without any of its crew being
injured.
Iran has been attacking tankers traveling on the route near Oman but
did not immediately acknowledge any attack.
Strikes come as Iran and US vie for Strait of Hormuz
Trump has returned in recent days to his threats to target Iranian
power stations and bridges to try to compel Iran to loosen its hold
on the strait, through which about a fifth of all oil and natural
gas traded once passed in peacetime. The U.S. also reimposed a naval
blockade on Iranian ports to halt its shipments of crude oil.
Week-to-week cargo shipments through the strait dropped by almost a
quarter at the beginning of the month, according to maritime data
firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence. And that was before the recent surge
in violence.
Given the risks, some oil shippers are transiting the strait with
their location devices turned off, but many are just staying put,
Lloyd’s said Thursday. A growing amount of the region’s energy is
being shipped through pipelines, but not nearly enough to offset the
decline in shipping through the strait.
U.S. forces have redirected three commercial vessels trying to run
the blockade, disabled one that did not comply and boarded another.
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Associated Press writers Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, Annika Wolters
in Rayong, Thailand, and Stella Martany in Irbil, Iraq, contributed
to this report.
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