U.S. Conducts Ninth Night of Strikes Against Iran Amid Rising Strait of Hormuz Tensions

Iranian media reported explosions in cities across the far north and far south, including Tabriz and Chabahar.

20 Jul 2026

The United States has carried out attacks on Iran for a ninth successive night, and Iranian media have reported explosions in several locations, such as Sirik, Jask, Tabriz and Chabahar.

The latest strikes occurred on Monday, coinciding with the U.S. military’s announcement of the death of a third soldier in recent days and the unraveling of a month‑old ceasefire between Tehran and Washington as both sides vie for control of the Strait of Hormuz.

In a statement, the United States military explained that the recent strikes are intended to degrade Iranian military capabilities that have been employing attacks on commercial vessels and merchant traffic moving through the Strait of Hormuz.

According to Iran’s IRIB state broadcaster, multiple explosions were heard in the port cities of Mahshahr and Imam Khomeini in southwestern Khuzestan province, as well as near Sirik and Jask in Hormozgan province on the southern coast, and near Khvormuj in Bushehr province.

IRIB also reported three explosions near Tabriz in northwestern Iran, while air‑defence systems were activated in the southeastern cities of Konarak and Chabahar in Sistan and Baluchestan province, as noted by the semi‑official Fars news agency.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, observed that the latest U.S. strikes again focused on Iran’s southern coast and that, if confirmed, the explosions in Tabriz would represent the first attack on that northwestern city since the recent escalation began.

‘We are witnessing yet another night of exchange of fire,’ he stated. ‘The Iranian side is also discussing retaliatory measures, with Iranian media reporting a new wave of missiles launched from Lorestan province targeting U.S. military assets throughout the region.’

Earlier, Kuwait reported confronting hostile drone threats, and air‑raid sirens sounded in Bahrain for a second consecutive day on Sunday. Sirens also sounded in Jordan, where the military announced that it intercepted three Iranian missiles.

Kuwait’s government said a desalination plant was attacked for a second consecutive day on Sunday, igniting a fire that it described as a direct strike on essential civilian infrastructure.

Both Iran and the United States have also targeted maritime traffic, with Washington stating that it is enforcing a naval blockade of Iranian ports, while Tehran asserts that it is striking vessels that breach its regulations for traversing the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reported on Sunday that four vessels attempted to pass through the strait via an “unsafe route” backed by the United States after disregarding IRGC warnings; two vessels aborted the passage, and the remaining two were involved in an accident, details of which were not provided.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that it has redirected six commercial vessels and disabled another ship to ensure full compliance with the blockade.

Earlier, CENTCOM reported that an American soldier was killed in northern Iraq on Saturday during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian drone. The command also noted that unidentified remains were recovered from the site of a deadly Iranian attack in Jordan on Friday, and that a verification process for the remains is ongoing.

Two U.S. soldiers were killed in Friday’s attack, and a third service member was reported missing in action.

These latest fatalities bring the total number of U.S. service members killed since the conflict began to 17, with more than 420 wounded.

The conflict, which erupted after the United States and Israel launched an attack on Iran on February 28, has resulted in thousands of deaths, predominantly in Iran and Lebanon, caused significant disruptions to energy supplies, and raised concerns about global inflation.

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