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The United States military carried out a fresh wave of airstrikes across southern Iran late on July 16, striking bridges, transportation hubs, and residential areas, and leaving at least three people dead and more than a dozen wounded.
The Hormozgan provincial governor’s office said American strikes hit the Kahurestan and Gariveh bridges — key road links between Bandar Abbas and Shiraz — killing two people and injuring four others. The strikes forced authorities to close the Bandar Abbas–Bandar Khamir–Lar road and block the Kashar–Kahurestan route, with officials urging residents to avoid the area and keep it clear for emergency crews.
In Bandar Abbas itself, a strike on the Tappeh Allah-o-Akbar residential neighborhood killed one person and wounded eight others, according to Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences.
Seven of the wounded suffered blast-related injuries, while an eighth sustained a fracture; emergency and medical teams were deployed to the area immediately afterward.
The state broadcaster’s Young Journalists Club reported that a separate strike hit the Bandar Abbas railway junction, wounding two people, while Iranshahr Airport in the country’s southeast was also struck, according to the semi-official Tasnim News Agency. Videos posted to social media showed repeated explosions and thick smoke rising from the area where the airport is located.
Further strikes were reported near Qeshm Island and in the Bandar Khamir and Kahurestan district, where explosions were heard and electricity was cut in parts of the area, Tasnim said.
The Hormozgan provincial government, cited by Fars News, also reported strikes near Bandar Abbas, though it said no injuries or damage to residential or commercial infrastructure had resulted from that particular round.
Earlier, U.S. Central Command announced on X that its forces had launched a wave of strikes against Iran for the sixth consecutive night to “further degrade Iranian military capabilities.”
The nature of the targets suggests, however, that the U.S. has begun to attack civilian infrastructure in Iran, in line with a threat made by President Donald Trump earlier in the week.
“We’re hitting them very, very hard. We’re hitting every single thing that they have along the shore, along the waterfront…They’ll continue until I say it’s enough,” Trump said during an interview with Fox News on July 15.
“We’re going to hit them very hard tonight. We’re going to hit them very hard tomorrow night. We’re going to hit them very hard the night after. And then next week, it gets really bad for them, because next week comes the power plants. Next week comes the bridges. We’re going to knock out all their power plants. We’re going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate,” he added.
Responding to this threat, Iran warned on July 16 that it would destroy regional infrastructure if the U.S. targets Iranian infrastructure, according to the semi-official Fars News Agency.
Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesman for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said: “Destroy infrastructure, we will destroy whatever infrastructure remains in the region.”
He also warned that the Islamic Republic “would under no circumstances allow the US, as a foreign and extra-regional country, to interfere in the Strait of Hormuz.”
“This is Iran’s unbreakable red line,” Zolfaghari added.
He said Iran’s response would not be an equal blow but a “superior blow,” adding that any retaliation would be “more severe, wider and more destructive than ever.”
The latest strikes by the U.S. were clearly meant to escalate the ongoing confrontation. Iran is expected to follow through on its threat and respond. The memorandum of understanding signed by the two sides last month to end the war could collapse within hours.
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mou is dead trump never honored any of the understandings violated them at every chance he could.