US hits bridges and collapses tower at key Iranian port as it expands airstrike campaign
The United States expanded its airstrike campaign against Iran early Friday by hitting more bridges and collapsing a tower at a key Iranian port, part of US President Donald Trump’s threats to start striking infrastructure to pressure Tehran to ease its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.Iran launched new missile attacks against US-allied nations in the Middle East, including Qatar, a key mediator in the war.The interim cease-fire agreed to last month has collapsed, and the region has endured days of back-and-forth attacks by the US and Iran as they battle for control of the strait.
Iranian officials say US strikes have killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds of others, with new casualties reported in Friday’s strikes.When the US and Israel launched the war on Iran on Feb.28, Tehran effectively closed the strait to shipping traffic, a move that sent the price of oil soaring and gave Iran major leverage in negotiations.Speaking in a primetime address to the American public, Trump insisted the war was going well.“We are likewise winning big in Iran, and you will see the fruits of that labor very, very shortly,” Trump said.The US airstrikes hit bridges overnight into Friday in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, killing at least seven people, Iranian state television reported.
The attacks hit Bandar Khamir, a city on Iran’s coast on the Strait of Hormuz.The highway and railway bridge strikes appeared aimed at cutting off Bandar Abbas, Iran’s main port, from roads leading into the Islamic Republic’s central region onward to Tehran, the capital.While other routes still are open, the US strikes could expand further, potentially disrupting both the movement of military materiel and goods needed for Iran’s 90 million people.The US military’s Central Command said it hit dozens of targets in its latest airstrikes, which concluded at dawn Friday, the sixth night in a row of American attacks.The strikes also collapsed a tower at Iran’s Chabahar...