As attacks escalate, the Strait of Hormuz – a critical waterway off Iran’s coast that Tehran effectively blocked in response to US-Israeli strikes – has remained shut.
That has impacted the flow of oil from the region and the head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, says he has concerns about global energy supplies.
“We should be worried, and I am worried, if the situation does not improve in the next few weeks,” Birol said on Thursday night.
On Friday the Chinese and Pakistani foreign ministers called for the US and Iran to stop fighting and resume negotiations.
The US overnight strikes also hit close to the island of Qeshm as well as in the southern coastal cities of Bandar Abbas and Bushehr – the site of a nuclear power plant.
Centcom did not mention bridges in its list of the “dozens of Iranian military targets” it hit in the latest round of strikes. It said jets, drones and ships had attacked “coastal surveillance and air defense sites, military logistics infrastructure, and maritime capabilities”. The BBC has asked Centcom for comment.
Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump threatened to strike Iran’s bridges and power plants if the country did not return to talks.
After Trump said in April that the US would bomb civilian infrastructure in Iran, including bridges and power plants, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said “deliberately attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure is a war crime”.
Iranian state media said Washington targeted Iranshahr Airport in southeastern Iran, a railway station in coastal Bandar Khamir as well as five bridges in the port city.
Seven people were killed in the strikes, state news agency IRNA reported.
