US targets Iranian infrastructure in 6th round of strikes as regime widens retaliation to UAE, Syria

The U.S. military struck infrastructure targets in Iran for the first time in this round of fighting overnight, while the regime widened its retaliatory strikes to U.S. targets in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.

Both sides have been gradually intensifying the exchange of fire after Iran resumed attacks on ships traversing the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway over which the regime has sought to assert sovereignty.

In the sixth consecutive round of strikes, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said that “fighter jets, aerial drones, and warships launched precision munitions that hit dozens of Iranian military targets such as coastal surveillance and air defense sites, military logistics infrastructure, and maritime capabilities.”

Iranian state media also reported six bridges and parts of the Semnan Airport in the north were damaged as a result of U.S. strikes. A senior U.S. official told The Wall Street Journal that the bridges were targeted to cut off supply routes to a port city and naval base in the Gulf.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that at 9:40 p.m. ET, U.S. forces completed their latest major wave of strikes against Iran, marking the sixth consecutive night of operations aimed at degrading Tehran's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the region.

According to… https://t.co/vPFAKVhxpt pic.twitter.com/3GErB9lNIH

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) July 17, 2026

“At the Commander in Chief's direction, CENTCOM is further degrading Iranian military capabilities and holding Iran accountable for recent attacks on commercial shipping.”

U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned Iran in a speech about election security on Thursday, asserting that the U.S. is “winning big in Iran and you will see the fruits of that labor very, very shortly.”

However, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday that Iran “very much continues to talk to the United States of America and express that they want to make a deal with us because they are suffering devastating blows.”

Iranian state media confirms that US forces struck two road bridges outside of Bandar Abbas tonight, cutting off the city from coastal routes to the west. pic.twitter.com/JcqmfXtYzX

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) July 16, 2026

The American strikes overnight killed eight people and wounded around 20 others, according to the Iranian state media. “Some infrastructure in several provinces of the country came under US military attack,” the IRNA news agency said.

The Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed that Iran has full control over the Strait of Hormuz and vowed to halt energy exports through the waterway for as long as U.S. attacks continue.

The IRGC, widely believed to be in control of the regime – nominally led by Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei – claimed it had carried out strikes on U.S. bases across the region in response.

https://t.co/jZlSVRePRC pic.twitter.com/Nj5o0oiphH

— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) July 17, 2026

For the first time, the IRGC claimed to have struck a U.S. special operations command center at al-Tanf in Syria. According to Israel’s Army Radio, satellite images published on Friday also showed that U.S. military aircraft hangars at Al Dhafra Air Base near Abu Dhabi were struck, indicating that the UAE had been targeted as well.

Iranian strikes also hit Qatari and Omani territory, despite both countries' roles as mediators in the conflict.

“The Ministry of Defense of the State of Qatar announces that armed forces intercepted a missile attack which targeted the State of Qatar,” its defense ministry wrote on 𝕏, while the IRGC claimed it had again struck U.S. radar sites in Oman.

A new billboard unveiled in central Tehran after the death of US Senator Lindsey Graham appears to allude to US President Donald Trump as the next potential target, extending a campaign of public threats against perceived enemies of the Islamic Republic.https://t.co/nRw0MBKJvx pic.twitter.com/58PVG4O2VT

— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) July 17, 2026

Additional Iranian strikes were reported by Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan. In Iraq, an exiled Iranian Kurdish militia reported that eight of its members were killed in a rocket and drone attack on a camp near the city of Slemani. Earlier, Kurdish forces said they shot down eight Iranian drones over Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish autonomous region.

Against the backdrop of intensifying fighting, the head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, warned that the world could face another energy security crisis.

“Oil security is still a critical issue,” Birol said. “We should be worried, and I am worried if the situation does not improve in the next few weeks.”

Shipping data showed that just three vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, the lowest number since May. Meanwhile, Iranian attacks continued, with the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency reporting on Friday that a tanker had been struck by an unidentified projectile east of Oman overnight.