The China Mail - US, Iran exchange blows in rekindled Mideast war

The key oil and gas artery, which Iran insists it controls, is central to the rekindled fighting that has entered its sixth day despite the foes' preliminary deal in June aiming to end the war.

US forces hit Iranian military targets in multiple locations including coastal Bandar Abbas to "degrade Iran's ability to threaten innocent mariners" in the Strait of Hormuz, Central Command (CENTCOM) said.

Earlier strikes had targeted coastal defence and cruise missile sites on Greater Tunb Island in the Gulf, CENTCOM added.

Iran's official IRNA news agency reported explosions in several areas of the country on Thursday, including Lorestan in the west and Senman in the north, while air defences were triggered in parts of Tehran.

Soon after, US allies in the Gulf began reporting attacks, with Kuwait saying it intercepted Iranian drones and Bahrain sounding air raid sirens.

At the heart of the renewed fighting is the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway crucial to global oil and gas flows.

Iran blockaded Hormuz after the war erupted with US-Israeli strikes on February 28, using the waterway for leverage against its foes for months.

The strait was briefly reopened after the US-Iran deal last month, before Tehran vowed last week it would be closed again "until the US ends its aggression".

Iran's military said it targeted US military facilities in Jordan with drones, "in response to the enemy aggression", state television IRIB said.

Earlier, the US military said one of its aircraft fired on and disabled an empty oil tanker that was trying to break the naval blockade of Iran's ports.

In Iraq, Kurdish forces said the US-led coalition downed eight explosive-laden drones over Erbil, the capital of the northern Kurdistan region, where AFP journalists heard explosions and saw smoke near the US consulate.

Hours later, Iraqi Prime Minister condemned the "drone attack" without identifying their origin.

- 'No reason to adhere' -

But despite renewed hostilities, mediated talks between the two sides have not formally ended.

"Next week it gets really bad for them," US President Donald Trump told Fox News, threatening to hit power plants and bridges unless Tehran returns to the negotiating table.

But Iran's top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that "a memorandum of understanding only has meaning when its clauses are valid and being implemented".

"If Iran is not to derive any benefit from the memorandum of understanding, we have no reason to adhere," he said in a statement.

Traffic through the the Strait of Hormuz has remained low, with maritime tracker Kpler reporting only 21 transits on Tuesday, and oil prices ticked higher after the latest escalation.

The United States has also reimposed a blockade of Iran's ports.

Anxieties ran high in Iran. Khadijeh, 31, an artisan from Qasr-e Shirin in the southeast, said: "The little children are so frightened by the sound of explosions that they don't sleep until morning.

"If, God forbid, the war becomes more intense, then perhaps it will take several generations before we can get back on our feet."

Fears similarly abounded in Gulf countries hit repeatedly by Iranian strikes.

"Every day, I wake up wondering whether the situation will de-escalate or worsen," said Mustafa Mohamed, a 39-year-old Sudanese accountant living in Kuwait.

- American released -

The US president said Wednesday an American citizen -- identified by her lawyer as Dena Karari -- had left the country in "good condition" after being detained in Iran since December 2024.

"The United States of America appreciates this gesture of Goodwill by Iran!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Since last week, renewed US attacks have killed at least 30 people in Iran, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said.

Separately, the military said nine of its personnel were killed in Wednesday's strikes on the southeast.

According to state media, a hospital in Ahvaz, in the southwest, was evacuated following US airstrikes on the area and the patients transferred to other medical centres.

R.Yeung--ThChM