Dubai (AFP) – The United States struck Iran and Tehran hit back at US allies in the Gulf, as the foes battled over the vital Strait of Hormuz in the renewed Middle East war. Here are Thursday’s latest developments:
– **Reports of explosions** – Iranian state TV reported two explosions in the city of Bushehr — home to Iran’s only civilian nuclear plant — in a “continuation of the American enemy aggression,” as well as a series of unattributed blasts in coastal Bandar Abbas. The official news agency IRNA also said there were “American enemy attacks on areas around Ahvaz.”
– **New US strikes** – US forces launched strikes against Iran for a sixth night in a row, the US military said. The strikes — which began at 1800 GMT — were carried out to “further degrade Iranian military capabilities,” US Central Command said in a post on X.
– **Ship struck off Iraq** – A drone struck a ship off the port in Iraq’s southern province of Basra, a security official told AFP, while the country’s oil ministry said an unspecified object fell near a tanker. The official told AFP that a drone had struck a ship “carrying American-branded cars” near an oil terminal after it had arrived from the United Arab Emirates. Iraq’s oil ministry said that “the incident involved a tanker reporting a sighting of a foreign object in its vicinity. However, no fire or damage to the vessel has occurred.”
– **Trump ‘open to diplomacy’** – US President Donald Trump remains open to diplomacy with Iran, the White House said, adding that Washington was still talking to Tehran despite the renewal of hostilities. “The president will hold them accountable when they turn their back on the words that they state to the United States. But he is always open to diplomacy at the very same time,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
– **Iranian island strikes** – Iranian news agencies reported that the United States had launched strikes around Iran’s Gulf island of Qeshm near the Strait of Hormuz. The Fars news agency reported an “American missile strike in the vicinity of Qeshm,” citing local authorities. Tasnim reported that one of its correspondents had reported that locations around the island “were struck by projectiles from the American enemy.” Iranian state TV also reported that the port city of Bandar Abbas was targeted by the “American enemy’s aggression” on Thursday evening.
– **Houthis threaten attacks** – Yemen’s Houthis warned they would target Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities and other infrastructure if conflict escalated between the two sides, days after the airport in the rebel-held capital Sanaa was struck. “All Saudi oil facilities and vital installations are targets for our missiles and drones if it gets itself involved in a full-scale aggression against our country and moves towards escalation,” the group’s leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi said.
– **Syria seizes weapons** – Syria said it had foiled an attempt to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon by seizing a shipment that included missiles at its border with Iraq. “Specialised units thwarted an attempt to bring in a shipment of sophisticated weapons and missiles through the Syrian-Iraqi border,” a source from the interior ministry was quoted as saying by Syria’s official Sana news agency.
– **Kuwait, Bahrain respond to attacks** – Kuwait and Bahrain faced renewed aerial attacks from Iran. The Kuwaiti army said it was responding to a fresh salvo of drones, blaming “Iranian aggression,” while an AFP journalist reported hearing explosions near the Gulf state’s capital Kuwait City. Kuwait and the island kingdom of Bahrain both said earlier on Thursday that their air defences had dealt with a previous round of Iranian attacks, with warning sirens sounding in Manama, the Bahraini capital.
– **Iran alleges ‘barbaric’ attack** – Tehran accused the United States of carrying out a “barbaric attack” after a cancer hospital in Iran’s southwest was forced to evacuate due to nearby strikes. “This barbaric attack, reminiscent of Israel’s atrocities against healthcare facilities, caused severe suffering and anxiety upon the hospitalised children,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei posted on X, saying “211 patients undergoing chemotherapy” had been evacuated.
© 2024 AFP
