From Bahrain to Syria, Iran Strikes the Network Behind America’s War

Six nights of American attacks have been followed by Iranian strikes against military installations from Bahrain to Syria. Washington says it is protecting shipping; Tehran is now threatening the infrastructure upon which the Gulf states depend.

The United States and Iran are moving beyond a battle for the Strait of Hormuz into a broader campaign against the military systems and potentially the civilian infrastructure that sustain both sides of the war.

American aircraft, drones and warships have completed six consecutive nights of attacks on Iran. Tehran has responded with missiles and loitering drones against American radar stations, air defences, aircraft facilities, fuel stores and logistics centres across the region.

The extent of the damage remains uncertain. United States Central Command describes what American forces attacked but provides little detailed assessment of what was destroyed. Iran makes extensive claims of damage to American installations, but most remain unverified.

The overlap between the two accounts nevertheless establishes that the fighting is spreading geographically and moving towards increasingly consequential targets.

Six nights of American attacks

CENTCOM says its latest operation struck dozens of targets across southern Iran, including coastal surveillance and air defence sites, military logistics infrastructure and maritime capabilities.

During the previous night, American forces attacked command centres, missile and drone positions and surveillance facilities around Bandar Abbas. Coastal-defence and cruise-missile sites were also struck on Greater Tunb, an Iranian-controlled island overlooking the approaches to Hormuz.

Iran says the American target list extended beyond military installations. Its authorities reported strikes on at least six bridges in Hormozgan province, a Bandar Abbas railway junction, residential areas and the airports at Bandar Abbas and Iranshahr.

Iranian officials said seven people were killed and nine wounded when bridges near Bandar Khamir were attacked. Another person was reportedly killed in Bandar Abbas. Iran’s Health Ministry says at least 35 civilians have died and more than 300 have been injured during the latest campaign.

CENTCOM has not addressed those figures. Washington describes the bridges, communications systems and transport facilities as components of Iran’s military logistics network. Tehran describes them as civilian infrastructure.

Both descriptions may be partly accurate. Roads, bridges, railways and airports serve civilians while also moving troops, fuel and weapons. But their increasing inclusion in the American campaign marks a clear escalation.

Iran attacks by country

Iran’s retaliation appears designed to weaken the regional network supporting the American air and naval campaign.

Bahrain

Iran says Arash loitering drones attacked a facility used by American reconnaissance aircraft and helicopters. It also claims to have struck radar and communications systems, air-defence equipment and aviation-support facilities at Sheikh Isa Air Base.

Bahrain is strategically important because it hosts the headquarters of the United States Fifth Fleet and supports American naval and air operations throughout the Gulf.

Its small size and exposed installations make it difficult to protect. An attack that disables radar, communications or aircraft-support systems could affect operations far beyond Bahrain itself.

Kuwait

Iran says it attacked American support centres and logistics facilities in Kuwait, including targets at Ali Al Salem Air Base.

Its military statements claim that drones struck radar systems, Patriot air-defence batteries, fuel stores, weapons depots and two HIMARS rocket launchers. Iran also reported a large fire at an American facility.

These damage claims have not been independently confirmed.

Kuwait is one of the principal American logistics centres in the region. It contains airbases, military stores and transport facilities used to sustain operations across the Gulf and Iraq. Attacking Kuwait therefore means attacking the supply system behind the American campaign.

Oman

Iran says it destroyed a naval-surveillance radar on the Salmah Plateau and an American air-surveillance radar in the Ghanam area.

If accurate, these attacks would represent a significant widening of the war. Oman has traditionally acted as a mediator between Iran and the United States. Tehran had previously exercised greater restraint towards it than towards Bahrain or Kuwait.

Iran now accuses American forces of using Omani territory and facilities against it.

Jordan

Iran says it attacked a fixed radar installation, communications equipment and fuel stores at Al Azraq Air Base.

Jordan’s importance lies in its radar coverage, air-defence network and ability to support American aircraft operating across Iraq, Syria and the wider region. Attacking its surveillance systems could be intended to create gaps through which later Iranian missiles and drones could pass.

Syria

Iran claims that it attacked an American special-operations command centre near al-Tanf, destroying a radar system and several helicopters and killing American personnel.

This is the least credible of the major Iranian claims. CENTCOM announced in February that American forces had withdrawn from the al-Tanf garrison. No public evidence establishes that they subsequently returned.

Iran may have attacked another installation in the area, used an outdated designation or exaggerated the result. Unless corroborating evidence emerges, the claimed destruction and casualties cannot be treated as established fact.

More than 50,000 American personnel

CENTCOM says more than 50,000 American service personnel are operating across the Middle East.

That figure demonstrates the scale of the deployment, but it does not prove that the United States is preparing to invade Iran. The forces include naval crews, airmen, Marines, missile-defence units, logistics personnel and troops protecting installations across numerous countries.

No public evidence shows the concentration of ground forces, landing ships and supply formations required for a large invasion.

But the deployment creates its own vulnerability. American forces are distributed across fixed bases whose locations are well known. Many installations stand on flat, densely developed territory where equipment cannot easily be placed deep underground.

Iran’s targeting pattern reflects that vulnerability. It is attempting to attack the radars, air defences, fuel supplies and communications systems upon which those forces depend.

The blockade returns

The United States has reimposed its naval blockade of Iranian ports and coastal areas.

CENTCOM says vessels not trading with Iran may continue through regional waters. Iran rejects Washington’s authority to decide which ships may enter its ports or use the strait.

On July 15, an American aircraft fired Hellfire missiles into the smokestack of an empty Curaçao-flagged tanker travelling towards Kharg Island after it allegedly refused orders to turn around. CENTCOM said the vessel was disabled but not sunk.

The incident exposes the contradiction at the centre of the American position. Washington says it is defending freedom of navigation while preventing ships from trading with Iran. Tehran says the blockade is an act of war and that the strait will not operate normally while it remains in force.

Commercial traffic has consequently fallen to extremely low levels. Although Washington says a southern route remains open, shipowners and insurers are reluctant to risk vessels in waters where American and Iranian forces are using weapons against commercial shipping.

The strait may not be physically sealed, but it is again approaching commercial closure.

Iran declares a new threshold

Iran has now issued its most serious warning of the renewed war.

An Iranian military spokesman said that if Iran’s infrastructure were attacked, infrastructure throughout the region would become a target.

That threat could encompass oil terminals, refineries, gas plants, ports, airports, power stations and desalination facilities.

Until now, Iran has largely concentrated on military installations and the systems supporting American operations. It says this restraint should not be mistaken for an inability to attack the Gulf’s economic infrastructure.

American strikes on bridges, railways and airport facilities have blurred that boundary. Further attacks on power stations or other essential systems could allow Tehran to declare that its threshold has been crossed.

The Gulf states are acutely vulnerable. Their oil, electricity, water and gas systems are concentrated in a comparatively small number of exposed facilities. Disabling even a few could interrupt energy exports while leaving major cities without reliable power or desalinated water.

Iran would face devastating retaliation if it carried out such a campaign. Its warning is therefore intended partly as deterrence.

But deterrence depends upon both sides understanding where the other’s limits lie. Washington is widening its target list while Tehran is expanding the category of targets it says it may attack in return.

The danger is no longer simply that the fighting will continue. It is that the next exchange will move the war from military bases and coastal defences to the infrastructure that keeps the entire Gulf functioning.