Newsletters
A U.S. strike on a water desalination plant in Iran's southeastern coastal village of Bunji left about 10,000 people without drinking water, a provincial official said Saturday.
Hamzeh Pour, CEO of the Hormozgan Water and Wastewater Company, said the attack "completely disrupted the supply of drinking water to 20 villages with a population of about 10,000 people," Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
"These villages are facing a severe water shortage," Pour said.
He said water desalination pumps in Bunji, located in Jask county in Hormozgan province, were hit in the attack.
Pour described the strikes as "a series of crimes and terrorist attacks," saying a pumping station used to extract water from the sea and a power transformer at the Bunji desalination plant were "completely destroyed."
Tensions have heightened in the Middle East, where the United States and Iran have continued exchanging attacks in recent days.
The military escalation comes despite a Pakistan-brokered memorandum of understanding signed in June to end the war and reach a lasting peace agreement.
Bombing intensified for a seventh consecutive night, with Iran threatening a "full-scale offensive" in response to U.S. strikes and targeting several U.S. military sites in Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain.
U.S. forces said they carried out strikes designed to "continue degrading Iranian military capabilities," according to a statement on X by U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM).
In the biggest escalation since the two sides resumed hostilities, Iran accused U.S. forces of targeting civilian infrastructure, including an airport, a railway station and two bridges, and said it had struck U.S. assets across the region.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to hit Iranian infrastructure, but there was no confirmation from the U.S. side Friday that American forces had begun doing so.
Maj. Gen. Mohsen Rezaei, a senior military adviser to Iran's supreme leader, said Tehran would resume "full-scale offensive operations" if U.S. strikes continued for another two or three days.
"Iran will no longer limit itself to retaliatory, like-for-like responses ... and no political border will be safe," Rezaei said, according to Iranian state broadcaster IRIB.
The war began Feb. 28 with deadly U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.
Tehran retaliated by effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping channel for much of the world's oil, and launching attacks on Israel and U.S. interests across the Gulf.
Traffic in the Strait of Hormuz hit a three-week low Thursday, according to maritime trackers Kpler and MarineTraffic.
Iranian state news agency IRNA reported Saturday that U.S. attacks killed three people and wounded eight in the southern province of Hormozgan.
Iran's army said it targeted multiple sites in Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain associated with the U.S. military.
In Kuwait, Iranian forces targeted an ammunition depot in the Al-Adiri camp, headquarters buildings and ammunition depots at Ali Al-Salem Air Base, as well as several communication bridges, Iranian state media reported.
In Jordan, fuel tanks at Al-Azraq Air Base were targeted, the state broadcaster said on Telegram.
Iran's army also said it targeted Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain, describing it as one of the most important operational and logistical centers for the U.S. military in the region.
Jordan's army said it shot down 10 Iranian missiles, with no casualties or damage reported.
Bahrain's Interior Ministry said air raid sirens were sounded.
Iran's Energy Ministry urged citizens to reduce electricity use and switch off air conditioners during peak hours, even as temperatures soared in some areas, after the power grid came under strain from what it said were U.S. strikes.
Iran's military had threatened infrastructure across the region in the event of attacks on its own networks and launched widespread strikes Friday.
In Kuwait, where Tehran said it targeted U.S. military sites, the electricity ministry said an Iranian attack damaged a power and water plant and urged users to ration electricity.
The Kuwaiti military said several troops were wounded when Iranian drones targeted a number of its bases and camps.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it targeted U.S. radar systems and military aircraft in Qatar to "punish the aggressor," while Doha said it had intercepted a missile attack.
The IRGC also said it attacked two U.S. radar sites in Oman and the Al-Tanf military base in Syria.
A Syrian military source denied there had been an attack on Al-Tanf, and U.S. forces said they had withdrawn from the base earlier this year.
The IRGC said Saturday that two oil tankers directed by "deceptive American intelligence agencies" exploded after hitting mines in the Strait of Hormuz, a claim the U.S. military quickly denied.
The Revolutionary Guards also said on state television that they had "stopped" four ships trying to transit the critical waterway.
The United States has also reimposed its blockade of Iranian ports as part of the wider escalation, while attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz have continued.
David Khalfa, a Middle East specialist at the Paris-based Jean-Jaures Foundation, said a "widening range of strategic infrastructure" was being drawn into the conflict.
"The paradox is that, while the conflict continues to escalate, neither side has a strategic interest in allowing this dynamic to continue. Yet both perceive any compromise as a form of capitulation," Khalfa told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
In Iraq's Kurdistan region, drone and rocket strikes killed nine members of an Iranian Kurdish armed opposition group Friday, the exiled Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan said, blaming Iran for the attack.
Iran's Health Ministry said at least 38 people have been killed and more than 400 wounded in the country since fighting resumed.
Mediators have attempted to bring both sides back to the negotiating table.
China and Pakistan have called on the United States and Iran to stop fighting and resume talks.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
5 min read
