Kuwait accuses Iran of targeting civilian sites

Kuwait has accused Iran of targeting civilian sites and vital infrastructure in the country, after reporting attacks on an oil facility and a power and water plant.

"The repeated targeting of these vital facilities reveals a systematic hostile approach targeting civilian sites and vital infrastructure that endangers the lives and safety of civilians," the foreign ministry said.

Iran launched renewed attacks on US Gulf allies after a seventh consecutive night of US strikes targeting Iranian military sites, including logistics infrastructure, escalating the war one week after a fragile ceasefire agreement ⁠fell apart.

Both sides also took aim at shipping traffic, with the US saying it was enforcing a naval blockade while Iran said it targeted vessels that violated its rules on navigating the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway for one-fifth of the world's oil supply.

Oil prices climbed more than 4% yesterday to their highest level in more than a month, applying political pressure on US President Donald Trump as his Republican Party tries to hold onto power in November congressional elections.

Washington and Tehran have been testing the limits of escalation since their ceasefire agreement collapsed last week, raising the prospect of a return to all-out war.

The US military's Central Command said it concluded its latest round of attacks by hitting surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage and maritime capabilities.

"US forces employed fighter aircraft, aerial drones and warships in addition to other assets," Central Command said in a statement.

"More than 50,000 American service members are operating across the Middle East and remain vigilant, lethal and ready," it added.

Iranian media reported that several missiles struck power facilities and desalination pumps in the southern Iranian city of Jask, citing a local official.

The official said drinking water had been cut off in villages in Jask due ‌to the attack.

The US said its forces redirected four commercial vessels, disabled one and ⁠boarded another to enforce its naval blockade of Iran.

In turn Iran's Revolutionary Guards said four vessels violating its rules on shipping traffic were stopped from going through the Strait of Hormuz with a combined missile and drone operation.

In addition, Iranian media, citing Iran's Revolutionary Guards, reported that two oil tankers exploded and caught fire after passing through a mined route south of the waterway.

The US military labelled that report as false.

Armed men seized another vessel off Yemen, raising concern over security in the Middle East's other big choke point for oil shipments at the mouth of the Red Sea.

Iran's state television quoted the Revolutionary Guards as saying that until US "aggression" comes to an end, it will not be possible to export chemical fertilisers or even a "single drop ‌of oil and gas" from the region.

Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader, warned against US escalation or any attempt to seize Iranian territory yesterday.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was concerned about the escalation, particularly "attacks on civilian infrastructure in Iran and across the region", his spokesperson said.

The US military's Central Command said its targets ⁠included "military logistics infrastructure", the first time it mentioned infrastructure in more than a week.

Iranian media reported enemy strikes in the coastal Hormozgan Province on the Iranian side of the Strait of Hormuz.

State TV said ‌three people were killed and eight wounded while two bridges and a road tunnel were damaged.

Iranian media reported explosions heard or strikes carried out in Sirik, ⁠Ahvaz, Yazd, Jask and Khorramabad ‌last night or early today.

Iranian state media said at least five bridges were struck yesterday in the south in US attacks.

Seven people were reported killed in attacks on bridges in the southern port of Bandar Khamir, where a train station was also hit.

An airport was reported to have been hit further east and away from the coast in Iranshahr, in a province bordering Pakistan.

President Trump has threatened to launch broad-based airstrikes on Iran's infrastructure and has also declined to rule out a ground assault on Iran's coast or islands.

US officials ⁠have said attacks on southern Iran are designed in part to give Mr Trump options.

Such moves risk provoking Iran to attack the vital infrastructure of vulnerable Gulf states, or having its allies in Yemen further disrupt global energy supplies by attacking shipping from ⁠the Red Sea.

Iran announced attacks on Gulf countries that host US airbases, including Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan, in addition to a US vessel in the northern Indian Ocean.

Saudi Arabia's civil defence issued early warnings, the first in several months, in at least two places but had yet to report any damage.

Earlier in the war, Iran hit some of the oil-rich nation's energy facilities.

Authorities in Kuwait said one of the country's power generation and water desalination stations had been hit in an Iranian attack, causing damage, a fire and the disruption of a large number of electricity generation units.

The Kuwaiti army later said it was responding to Iranian drone attacks.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said it attacked a depot of US drones in Bahrain and destroyed Bahrain's main artificial intelligence centre with ballistic missiles and drones.

State news agency IRNA reported the Iranian navy fired a shore-to-sea cruise missile towards what it ‌called a hostile US vessel in the northern Indian Ocean.

Iran's army said the missile launch caused "fear and panic" and forced the vessel to move out of range of Iran's navy.