The United States has launched fresh attacks on Iran with bridges and transport infrastructure among the targets, leaving at least seven people dead and many wounded, as Tehran responded with strikes on US allies in the Gulf.
The rekindled fighting late on Thursday over the vital Strait of Hormuz came a month after the signing of a preliminary deal that aimed to end the conflict, which broke out in late February with massive US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
Early on Friday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced it has ended its new wave of attacks to "further degrade Iranian military capabilities" — the sixth straight night of attacks by American military.
Iranian state media reported US attacks on two bridges, a railway station and an airport in the southern part of the country, near the strategic strait, which is crucial to global oil and gas flows.
At least seven people were killed in the US attacks, state TV said.
Local media in Tehran earlier reported two explosions in the western city of Bushehr — home to Iran's only civilian nuclear plant — in a "continuation of the American enemy aggression".
Tehran had earlier warned it would target infrastructure across the region if US President Donald Trump followed through on a threat to attack power plants and bridges in Iran — though the White House said he remained "open to diplomacy".
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday that they struck a US airbase in Jordan with ballistic missiles in response to what they described as an American attack near a children's cancer hospital, near Ahvaz in the southwest.
'Never back down'
Iranian state media said the hospital was evacuated following US attacks on the area that foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei slammed as "barbaric".
Hani, a 34-year-old teacher from Ahvaz, said the strikes were "very intense", adding: "My hands are shaking. There were at least 11, 12 explosions. My ears are exploding."
US allies in the Gulf, meanwhile, responded to attacks, with Kuwait saying early on Friday its air defences were again combatting missile and drone attacks, and Bahrain sounding air raid sirens. Qatar said it thwarted a missile attack.
A senior Iranian military spokesman called for the US to withdraw from the region, saying "we will never back down over the Strait of Hormuz", state TV reported.
The Strait of Hormuz was briefly reopened after the US-Iran deal in June, but Tehran said last week it would be closed again "until the US ends its aggression".
The United States has also reimposed its blockade of Iran's ports.
On Thursday, the American military said forces had taken over a ship in the Gulf of Oman to "ensure full compliance", adding that three vessels had been redirected since the blockade resumed.
Threats to infrastructure
Pakistan's foreign office spokesman, Tahir Andrabi, said Islamabad would "continue to encourage all sides to end violence and resume technical-level talks" under the memorandum of understanding it helped mediate last month.
But Iran's top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has warned that a deal "only has meaning when its clauses are valid and being implemented".
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday that Trump would hold Iran "accountable" for going back on its word, but said "he is always open to diplomacy at the very same time".
Trump previously threatened to hit Iranian power plants and bridges unless Tehran returned to the negotiating table, telling Fox News: "Next week it gets really bad for them."
On Thursday, the spokesman for Iran's military headquarters said that if the US followed through on its threats, "all infrastructure in the region" would be "crushed".
Since last week, renewed US attacks have killed at least 30 people in Iran, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said.
