Washington Carries Out Seventh Consecutive Night of Airstrikes Against Iran

The US military says it is degrading Iran’s military but has been accused by Tehran of targeting civilian infrastructure.

Published On 17 Jul 202617 Jul 2026

The United States military has conducted a seventh straight night of strikes on Iran, even as a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader cautioned that a full-scale offensive would follow should American attacks persist.

In a Friday post on X, US Central Command (CENTCOM) stated that the strikes commenced at 19:00 GMT (10:30pm local time in Iran) and were “designed to continue degrading Iranian military capabilities at the Commander in Chief’s direction.”

Five explosions were reported in the early hours of Saturday in Yazd, located in central Iran, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. Iranian state television also reported three blasts in the southern city of Sirik, while the Mehr news agency said explosions were heard “in several provinces in the south.”

As the hostilities intensify, concerns are mounting that the confrontation could escalate beyond control.

Tehran alleges that Washington is striking civilian infrastructure and committing war crimes. Footage and imagery released by Iranian state media depict severely damaged bridges and railway lines in the country’s south.

Iran has threatened to retaliate by hitting civilian infrastructure throughout the Gulf, raising the prospect of serious humanitarian fallout.

In response to the strikes, Iran has targeted what it describes as US-linked assets in the region.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it attacked a facility storing American unmanned aerial vehicles in Bahrain late Friday. The US has not verified the claim.

Iran to start ‘offensive operations’ if US attacks continue

Earlier on Friday, Major-General Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, warned that Tehran would abandon its defensive posture of deterrence and enter a phase of “offence and complete destruction” unless US strikes stop.

According to the Iranian news agency IRIB, Rezaei said Tehran is prepared to launch “full-scale offensive operations” if the attacks continue for two or three more days.

“Iran will no longer limit itself to retaliatory, like-for-like responses … and no political border will be safe,” Rezaei added.

Rezaei said Washington’s grinding strategy of “war and negotiation” had reached an impasse and that the severity of Iranian attacks would grow in the days ahead.

Iran reported that US strikes overnight Thursday into Friday killed eight people on its territory. The IRGC subsequently launched assaults on US military assets in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Jordan and Syria.

On Friday, Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy said Iran had struck a power and water plant, damaging numerous generation units and triggering a fire that has since been put out.

Officials urged citizens and residents to conserve electricity following the incident.

Gulf nations rely heavily on desalination plants, which supply 40 percent of the world’s desalinated water. Attacks on such facilities could produce catastrophic humanitarian and economic effects within days.

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