US launches fresh strikes as Iran reports civilian infrastructure damage

The US military launched another wave of strikes against Iran, Centcom said, extending the campaign to a sixth night and deepening the risk that the fight over the Strait of Hormuz could spread beyond a limited exchange. Reuters said the latest strikes included targets in Bandar Abbas, while Iranian officials said civilian infrastructure in southern Iran had been hit and power outages were reported.

Centcom said the attacks were intended to “further degrade Iranian military capabilities.” The focus on Bandar Abbas matters because the city sits at the center of the southern front, where damage to power systems, transport links and other civilian infrastructure can quickly spill into daily life. Al Jazeera said Iranian officials reported strikes on a train station in Bandar Abbas and outages across the city, raising immediate concerns for hospitals, water pumping and communications in a region already under strain.

The strikes also sharpen the legal stakes. Under international humanitarian law, civilian infrastructure is protected unless it is being used for military purposes, so claims that power facilities and a train station were hit carry consequences beyond the battlefield. Each new round of attacks increases the chances of civilian harm, especially when utilities and transport nodes are involved.

The escalation has been building for weeks. Earlier in the conflict, Donald Trump threatened to target infrastructure across Iran unless the country reached an “acceptable” deal, and he later said Iran’s nuclear sites had been “obliterated” after US strikes in June 2025. But a preliminary US intelligence assessment reported on 25 June 2025 said those strikes had set back Iran’s nuclear program by only months, not eliminated it.

That gap between political claims and military results has helped keep the conflict alive, while both sides have turned the Strait of Hormuz into a pressure point. BBC coverage said the fighting was taking place amid a battle for control of the waterway, and Iran has threatened to block trade routes if US restrictions on the strait continue. With energy flows and global shipping exposed, the latest strikes look less like a final blow than another step toward a broader regional war.