Friday, July 17

The U.S. bombed Iran for the sixth consecutive night and Iran retaliated with strikes on U.S. bases and energy targets in the region, as the Iran War entered its 140th day on Friday.

CENTCOM claimed it struck military targets and that its strikes were aimed at “degrading Iranian military capabilities and holding Iran accountable for recent attacks on commercial shipping.” Iranian media cited by the Financial Times reported that U.S. strikes hit civilian infrastructure, including six bridges in a southern port, a railway, and an airport. An Iranian energy official reported power outages throughout Bandar Abbas, a port city in the south, due to U.S. attacks on energy infrastructure.

A spokesperson for Iran’s armed forces said Thursday that U.S. attacks on Iran’s civilian infrastructure would make all infrastructure in the region “legitimate targets for Iran.” Tehran had issued a similar warning after President Donald Trump threatened to hit all of Iran’s bridges and power plants next week.

Iran said that its IRGC force attacked U.S. military targets in Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, and, for the first time in the war, Syria. The strike on Syria, Iran said, targeted a U.S. special operations command center. CENTCOM denied claims of an Iranian attack in Syria that killed or captured U.S. soldiers. The government of Kuwait said Friday that Iran’s attacks hit one of the country’s power generation and water desalination plants. Ninety percent of Kuwait’s water supply comes from desalinated seawater.

Kpler shipping tracker reported that only eight vessels were recorded transiting the Strait of Hormuz Thursday, the lowest level of traffic in three weeks. The price of oil continued to rise, with Brent Crude above $86.40 per barrel on Friday morning.



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