As US strikes bridges in Iran, it targets a water desalination plant in Kuwait

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States expanded its airstrike campaign against Iran early Friday by hitting more bridges, energy sites and collapsing a tower at a key Iranian port, backing up U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to start striking infrastructure to pressure Tehran to ease its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz. Iran launched missile attacks against U.S.-allied nations in the Middle East, including Qatar, a mediator in the war, and Kuwait, where a power and water desalination plant — vital infrastructure in the desert nation — was damaged. The interim ceasefire agreed to last month has collapsed, and the region has endured days of back-and-forth attacks by the U.S. and Iran as they battle for control of the strait. Iranian officials say recent U.S. strikes have killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds of others, with new casualties reported in Friday's strikes. When the U.S. 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. As crossings through the strait hit a three-week low, according to an international shipping tracker, the price of oil rose above $86 a barrel, close to its highest level in a month. Speaking in a primetime address to the American public on Thursday, 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. Before the war began, the U.S. had been in talks with Iran over its nuclear program. Trump now faces political pressure to bring the war to a close and avoid the kind of prolonged Middle East conflict he had campaigned against. Bridges and 'electrical infrastructure' hit in Iran The U.S. 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 U.S. strikes could expand further, potentially disrupting both the movement of military materiel and goods needed for Iran's 90 million people. Iran also acknowledged "attacks on power infrastructure" during the U.S. airstrike campaign for the first time Friday when its Energy Ministry issued a call for people to use less power in southern provinces. It said those areas "are currently experiencing extreme heat and attacks on power infrastructure." The ministry did not elaborate on whether it was power plants, transmission lines or other equipment that had been attacked. Such strikes on power infrastructure had been suspected for days. Tower at key port collapses in US strike The U.S. 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 port on the Gulf of Oman, a key trade route for landlocked, neighboring Afghanistan, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. Chabahar port, which Iran had been running with support from India, has been a repeated target of American airstrikes. Iran described the tower as overseeing commercial traffic into the port. However, Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard also operates at ports across the country. As of 6 a.m. Friday, the U.S. strikes had killed at least 38 people and wounded more than 400 in Iran, Health Ministry spokesperson Hossein Kermanpour said. Iran retaliates by targeting Qatar, a mediator in the war On Friday, Qatar twice warned the public to take shelter as a barrage of Iranian missiles targeted the nation. People heard explosions overhead as air defenses fired to intercept the missiles. Qatar's Interior Ministry said falling debris wounded a child. Qatar, along with Pakistan, is a key mediator in trying to reach an end to the Iran war. But talks have broken down over Iran's chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz. Iran also targeted Bahrain and Kuwait early Friday. In Kuwait, authorities said Iran attacked a power and water desalination plant, causing widespread damage to the station. About 90% of the country's drinking water comes from desalination. Kuwait said it extinguished the blaze and was working to assess the damage and get the station working again. Jordan's military said it intercepted three incoming missiles Friday morning launched by Iran. Explosions also could be heard Friday morning in Irbil and Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish region as air defenses targeted incoming fire. The attack apparently targeted the Iranian Kurdish dissident group Komala, killing at least nine people and wounding others, said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons. Iran did not immediately claim the attack but has targeted Komala in the past. Also on Friday, a tanker came under attack traveling through the Strait of Hormuz taking the route closest to Oman, the British military said. The report from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said the ship sustained minor damage without any of its crew being injured. Iran did not immediately acknowledge any attack. In recent days, it has openly targeted ships using the route, which is overseen by the U.S. military and intended to be outside of Tehran's control. Strikes come as Iran and US vie for Strait of Hormuz Iran has said the strait must be under its sole control and that vessels should pay fees to Tehran — even though the world for decades has considered it an international waterway. Trump has returned in recent days to his threats to target Iranian power stations and bridges to try to compel Iran to loosen its hold on the strait, through which about a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded once passed in peacetime. The U.S. also reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports to halt its shipments of crude oil. Crossings through the strait fell to a three-week low of just eight vessels on Thursday, according to MarineTraffic.com. It said seven of the vessels used a route operated by Iran and none used the route closest to Oman. Given the risks, some oil shippers are transiting the strait with their location devices turned off, but many are just staying put, Lloyd's List Intelligence said Thursday. A growing amount of the region's energy is being shipped through pipelines, but not nearly enough to offset the decline in shipping through the strait.