U.S. airstrikes reportedly struck bridges, railroads, and an airport in southern Iran on Thursday, the sixth night of renewed hostilities between the United States and Iran.
Iranian state media said the U.S. targets included six bridges in Hormozgan province, a railway junction station in Bandar Abbas, an airport in Iranshahr, and a maritime control tower in the port city of Chabahar.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) did not provide a full list of targets on Friday, but did confirm some individual strikes, such as the Chabahar control tower – which CENTCOM described as “part of a maritime surveillance network along Iran’s Gulf of Oman coastline used for decades by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to track and target commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”
“The destruction of the tower directly degrades IRGC’s ability to coordinate attacks on innocent civilian crew members. Furthermore, the strike protects freedom of navigation in regional waters for all vessels, except for ships attempting to violate the ongoing U.S. naval blockade against Iran,” CENTCOM said.
The BBC said it used “verified footage” to confirm another target was Gariveh Bridge in Hormozgan province. Iranian state media claimed two people were killed and four wounded in the strike.
Fox News also posted video of a bridge near the coastal town of Bandar Khamir on fire, and said the footage had been “verified using visible landmarks and satellite imagery.”
Iranian state television network IRIB said “three explosions were heard” around Iranshahr airport,” and “at least one American enemy projectile” scored a direct hit on the facility.
“A few minutes ago, the Bandar Abbas Railway Junction Station was targeted by the American enemy. According to this report, two Iranians were injured in the attack,” other Iranian media reported.
The Associated Press (AP) ventured that if Iran’s claims of damage to bridges and railroads are accurate, the U.S. targeting pattern “appeared aimed at cutting off Bandar Abbas, Iran’s main port, from roads leading into the Islamic Republic’s central region onward to Tehran, the capital.”
Despite these reports of heavy damage, the Iranian regime claimed on Friday that road traffic had largely returned to normal, mentioning only that a “temporary bypass” was needed around the Kahurestan Junction bridge.
Iranian lawmaker Amirhossein Sabeti accused the U.S. of targeting transportation infrastructure to “facilitate the occupation of some Iranian islands and key sites by separatist groups or airborne forces.” He warned that any such ground attack would lead to “heavy casualties for American forces.”
Another lawmaker, Mohammadreza Rezaei-Kouchi, said that Iran would “target the infrastructure of countries cooperating with the United States” in response.
“If the enemy targets one bridge, we will target two of their infrastructure bridges,” he said.
Another escalation threatened by Iran would involve ordering their Houthi allies in Yemen to begin attacking Red Sea shipping again, as they did during the Gaza War, and possibly shut down the vital Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Two senior Iranian officials and an unidentified third source told Reuters on Thursday that Iran has asked the Houthis to “stand ready to close the Red Sea oil route if the United States strikes Iranian power infrastructure,” and the Houthis are supposedly prepared to do so.
“A source close to the Houthis said the group had completed preparations to attack shipping by deploying missiles and drones near Bab el-Mandeb strait, the gateway to the Red Sea, in Yemen’s highlands overlooking Hodeidah and the Gulf of Aden and was awaiting the order to begin,” Reuters reported.