Escalating Attacks Widen Mideast War --- Strikes on sensitive Gulf targets risk setting off a spiral as both sides dig in

“Fighting between the U.S. and Iran has expanded, with the American military striking a wider range of targets and moving jet fighters into the Mideast while Tehran launches attacks across the Persian Gulf.

 

The fighting is focused on control of the Strait of Hormuz but this round raises the risk of a return to a larger war. The U.S. is hitting bridges and other targets in Iran's interior to increase pressure across Iran to force an end to attacks on Gulf shipping, after a deal to open the waterway collapsed this past week. Iran has responded with broader and deadlier attacks.

 

A return to a wider conflict would put upward pressure on oil prices -- which have risen more than 10% this week -- and weigh on the global economy, risks President Trump has made clear concern him.

 

Iran also faces a massive rebuilding challenge.

 

So both sides have incentives to avoid a major flare up. But each is pushing for leverage, raising fear of an escalatory spiral that gets out of hand, said Saeid Golkar, an expert on Iran's security services who teaches at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

 

"There is a risk we will go back to a total war even if neither side wants it," he said.

 

The strait was supposed to be opened under a memorandum of understanding Trump signed with Iran a month ago. The deal fell apart amid new Iranian attacks on shipping aimed at shutting down a U.S. effort to shepherd traffic through the strait along the coast of Oman. Tehran believes the agreement gives it the right to manage traffic through the strait, and wants ships to pass through a northern route along the Iranian coast.

 

U.S. officials said earlier this past week that Trump was leaning toward expanding U.S. military operations to break the diplomatic logjam. The U.S. was moving jet fighters back to the Middle East from Europe, according to flight-tracking data and a person familiar with the matter.

 

More than 2,000 Marines from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit also are operating in the region after spending time in the Pacific. The military released photos of the Marines boarding and searching a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Oman as the U.S. ramps up enforcement of its blockade of Iranian ports.

 

The U.S. has carried out seven consecutive days of strikes, the biggest escalation since the preliminary deal was signed in June. Like other days, U.S. Central Command said Friday afternoon Eastern time, that the new round of strikes are "designed to continue degrading Iranian military capabilities."

 

Recent targets have included several bridges in an effort to cut off supply routes to the port and naval base at Bandar Abbas on the Strait of Hormuz. The port normally handles 90% of Iran's container traffic. Tehran also uses the facilities to attack ships, The Wall Street Journal has reported, citing a senior U.S. official.

 

Several attacks on bridges were reported in and around Bandar Abbas during Thursday night's U.S. strikes, and highways connecting the port city to nearby provinces were declared closed, according to Iran's state broadcaster IRIB.

 

Iranian state media and a U.S. defense official said the U.S. has been hitting targets nationwide. The targets include weapons and surveillance systems that Iran has used to attack commercial shipping, the official said.

 

The U.S. repeatedly has hit Chabahar, Iran's only deep-water, oceanic port. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted a picture of the collapse of a maritime-communications tower in Chabahar, which sits more than 350 miles east of the strait near the Pakistan border. Tehran confirmed the facility was struck and insisted it was used for civilian purposes. Chris Long, a former British naval officer in the Persian Gulf, said the tower could also have served as an observation and intelligence post.

 

Tehran's strategy has been to out-escalate and outlast the U.S. It now says it is widening the geographical reach of its attacks in response to the intensification of U.S. strikes.

 

In recent days it has expanded beyond routine attacks on U.S. bases in Bahrain and Kuwait. On Friday, Kuwait said Iranian strikes damaged a power and desalination plant, a provocative escalation particularly at the height of summer that forced it to activate emergency plans. Kuwait's military said 32 drone attacks were intercepted since early Thursday. Iran also hit Qatar and Oman -- two countries involved in efforts to find a diplomatic solution -- and stepped up its attacks on shipping.

 

On Thursday, officials in Iraq said drones targeted a tanker and a containership at its southern ports, as well as Iraq's northern Kurdish region. The area's biggest natural-gas field was shut amid credible threats it would be attacked. Iraqi Kurdish authorities said more drones were intercepted above the regional capital of Erbil on Friday.

 

No one has claimed the strikes in Iraq, but Iran and its local allies have frequently launched drones there.” [1]

 

1. World News: Escalating Attacks Widen Mideast War --- Strikes on sensitive Gulf targets risk setting off a spiral as both sides dig in. Faucon, Benoit; Gordon, Michael R; Malsin, Jared.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 18 July 2026: A7.