The U.S. military said late on Thursday it completed its latest round of strikes on Iran, marking a 13th consecutive night of American attacks. U.S. Central Command said the strikes lasted more than two hours and targeted Iranian military command centers, drone storage facilities, communication networks, coastal surveillance sites and maritime capabilities. The stated aim was to further diminish the threat Iran poses to civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Civilian shipping sits in the middle of this machinery, as usual, while the states trade fire and call it security.
The State Monopoly on Violence
President Donald Trump promised "major military punishment" for Iran and its Houthi allies after the Yemeni fighters struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, extending the war into a second major shipping chokepoint. Trump said on social media, "If they do this again, the U.S. will hold Iran responsible, in that the Houthis are a Surrogate and/or Proxy of Iran, and major military punishment will be inflicted upon Iran and, of course, the Houthis, themselves." He also told Axios he was considering re-launching major combat operations in Iran and was close to a decision. "They haven't received enough pain yet," the news outlet quoted Trump as saying. On social media, Trump said "any and all damages done" to cargo ships would be paid for with "Iranian Money," referring to frozen Iranian assets held by the United States, without saying how.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arachi responded with a warning on X, saying, "Seizing another nation's assets to pay for unrelated future claims is an incendiary precedent." He added on Friday, "Ensuing chaos will not be pretty or peaceful." Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, also said, "Our defense doctrine is clear: eye for an eye. Any aggression against Iran, including our infrastructure, will compel a powerful and decisive response." He added, "Those who contribute to such aggression, whatever the kind of support, will also be considered as legitimate targets." The language changes. The logic doesn’t. Each side speaks in the grammar of command, punishment and retaliation, with ordinary people left to absorb the blast radius.
Civilian Infrastructure as Target
Iranian state media said on Thursday that a U.S. attack had killed two people at Shalamcheh, on Iran's border with Iraq, and that at least 11 others were wounded. State media reported that two U.S. missiles hit Bushehr, which is home to Iran's only civilian nuclear plant. Four people were killed and five injured in a U.S. missile attack on the Iranian city of Ahvaz, state broadcaster IRIB said. Tehran activated air defenses amid the strikes. Explosions and smoke were reported near Erbil airport in Iraq, which houses U.S. troops, and air defenses were activated there. Explosions were also reported in the islands of Qeshm, Larak and Hengam, as well as the Iranian cities of Ahvaz and Bandar Abbas.
Elsewhere in the region, Jordan and Kuwait reported intercepting strikes on Thursday morning, as Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it was targeting U.S. assets in both countries. Iran said it attacked U.S. missile systems, weapons and fuel storage sites in Jordan, as well as U.S. military posts in Kuwait. Jordan's army said it engaged four Iranian missiles and six drones in the past day, intercepting all but one missile, which fell in an uninhabited area. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they struck a U.S. electronic warfare unit at Al-Adiri base in Kuwait, causing unspecified casualties, in response to an overnight strike on Iran's Shalamcheh border crossing with Iraq. The Iranian army announced that a number of U.S. facilities in Kuwait were targeted by "destructive drones," including ammunition and logistics depots at Camp Doha, fuel tanks at the Ali al-Salem base and an ammunition depot at Camp Arifjan. Iranian military spokesperson Brigadier General Mohammad Akraminia said Iran would keep retaliating as long as the U.S. continued to attack its infrastructure and coastal areas, Iranian state TV reported. The armed forces' retaliatory attacks would continue as long as the U.S. attacks on the country's infrastructure and coastal areas continued, Iran's army spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia said, as quoted by state television.
Chokepoints and the Price of War
The IRGC said it stopped three oil tankers from transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday. It said, "The Strait of Hormuz is under our control... and any ship that is deceived by the U.S. and intends to pass without coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran will suffer the same fate." The Houthis said they conducted missile and drone strikes on two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea overnight, the Encelia and the Layla. A maritime security source said the Encelia sent a distress call that it had been struck by a missile near the Saudi port of Jizan in the Red Sea just north of Yemen on Wednesday. Saudi state news agency SPA said the strike caused a fire at the bow. UKMTO, the British naval security monitor, said the master of a tanker reported being hit by an unknown projectile about 70 nautical miles southwest of Al Shuqaiq in Saudi Arabia, and that the projectile caused a fire that the crew was fighting. Saudi Arabia confirmed the Encelia had been struck, but did not comment on the other tanker. Reuters could not immediately confirm the attack on the Layla, or other battlefield accounts, but Trump mentioned two attacks on Saudi tankers.
Fears that disruption could widen to block another sea route sent global oil prices surging in one of the steepest rises of the war. Brent crude rose more than 6%, piercing the level of $100 a barrel for the first time since May. Shipping insurance costs through the southern Red Sea doubled for some companies on Thursday after the reported attacks, sources said. In the days since the Houthis unveiled their blockade in the Red Sea, several tankers have changed course to avoid the Bab el-Mandeb, instead heading north through the Suez Canal and potentially using a much longer and more expensive route to reach Asian customers by sailing around Africa. The number of tankers crossing the Strait of Hormuz fell to just one on Thursday, its lowest since May 7, shiptracking data showed. The market gets its own casualty list. The people who actually move the goods pay for the war before the generals do.
The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began on February 28, and Tehran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states that host U.S. bases. U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks on Lebanon have since killed thousands and displaced millions. The war was well into its fifth month. The 1949 Geneva Conventions on humanitarian conduct in war prohibit attacks on sites considered essential for civilians. International law experts in the U.S. said in April that such attacks could amount to war crimes, after Trump's previous threats. Trump's threat that month to destroy Iran's entire civilization also drew wide condemnation.
In Washington, the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives backed legislation on Thursday directing Trump to halt U.S. military action against Iran. The Senate voted hours later to block a separate, similar measure. Reuters also reported that the Senate blocked a resolution curbing Trump's Iran war powers. The legislature performs its little ritual of restraint, then steps aside. The war machine keeps moving.