US Widens Strikes Into Northern Iran As Tehran Warns of Wider Regional Attacks

The United States expanded its military operations against Iran early on Thursday, carrying out strikes deeper inside the country while also disabling an oil tanker it accused of attempting to breach its renewed naval blockade. Iran responded with missile and drone attacks targeting U.S. allies in the region before dawn and warned that its retaliation could intensify.

The latest round of exchanges has further escalated tensions after days of reciprocal strikes across the Middle East. According to Associated Press, the renewed hostilities have undermined the interim deal aimed at ending the Iran war and raised fears of a return to a broader regional conflict. Iranian officials said U.S. strikes have killed more than 35 people and wounded over 300.

US widens strikes across Iran

According to Associated Press, strikes reached areas around Iran’s capital, Tehran, for the first time in the latest phase of the fighting, signalling an expansion of American targets. State media also reported attacks in Semnan province, home to Iran’s ballistic missile production facilities and space programme.

Iranian media also reported strikes on Thursday morning around the provinces of Hamedan, Hormozgan, Khuzestan, Lorestan, Markazi and Sistan and Baluchistan.

When the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on February 28, Tehran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic. The move drove up the price of oil, fertiliser and other goods well beyond the region and gave Iran greater leverage in negotiations.

Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for the Iranian military’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, warned that Iran could launch widespread attacks on regional infrastructure if the U.S. follows through on President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to strike Iranian bridges and power plants.

“All the infrastructure in the region will be crushed under the steel blows of the powerful armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran” should Trump’s threat be carried out, Zolfaghari said.

“Under no circumstances and in no way will we allow America, as a foreign and extra-regional country, to interfere in the Strait of Hormuz,” he added. “This is Iran’s invincible red line.”

Associated Press reported that the U.S. resumed striking Iran during daylight on Wednesday, highlighting the increasing tempo of its operations. An attack on Greater Tunb Island, a strategic point in the Strait of Hormuz, targeted Iranian defence and missile sites, according to U.S. Central Command.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said it opened fire on the Curaçao-flagged oil tanker Belma as it sailed towards Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export terminal in the Persian Gulf. After the vessel allegedly ignored multiple warnings, a U.S. aircraft disabled it by firing a missile into its smokestack.

Another American strike on Wednesday targeted barracks belonging to Iran’s 388th Mechanised Infantry Brigade in Sistan and Baluchistan province, Iranian state television reported. The broadcaster said at least 13 missiles were fired in the attack, killing seven people, including conscripts and career soldiers, while a number of troops were wounded.

Iran retaliates as Strait of Hormuz tensions deepen

Iran retaliated before dawn on Thursday with missile and drone attacks on Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait, authorities in those countries, which host U.S. forces, said. There was no immediate acknowledgement of damage or casualties.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi condemned an overnight drone attack on Irbil in Iraq’s semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region. Authorities said the drone had been intercepted. The incident came during al-Zaidi’s visit to the U.S., where he said Iraq would work to disarm non-state armed groups, including those backed by Iran.

The latest fighting has centred on the Strait of Hormuz, with Iran attacking ships using a U.S.-controlled route through the strategic waterway.

The U.S. has threatened to reopen the strait by force, but experts say doing so would require a much larger naval presence, if not tens of thousands of ground troops.

Oil prices edged lower in early trading as investors assessed the impact of the latest U.S. strikes on Iran and the possibility of a wider regional conflict. Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell 27 cents to 84.68 dollars a barrel after surging earlier in the week on escalating U.S.-Iran tensions and concerns over potential supply disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz.

Later on Thursday, Brent traded above 85 dollars a barrel, more than 15 per cent higher than before the war, although still below the nearly 120 dollars reached at the height of the conflict.

Trump says peace deal remains possible

Rising energy prices present a challenge for Trump and the Republican Party as they seek to retain control of Congress in the November elections. Washington has struggled to reopen the waterway, leading Trump to reimpose the naval blockade on Wednesday, while mediators have so far failed to ease tensions.

Trump again insisted Iran was prepared to reach a peace agreement but did not elaborate.

“They don’t like what we’re doing, and they do want to settle. We’ll find out whether or not we settle with them, or we just finish it off,” he said on Wednesday at the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania.

Trump also said on social media that Tehran had made a goodwill gesture by releasing an American citizen detained in Iran since 2024. He did not provide further details. Human rights lawyer Jared Genser identified the detainee as his client, Dena Karari, a U.S.-Iranian citizen who runs a non-profit organisation and had been charged with espionage.

Iran did not immediately acknowledge the reported release, and Karari’s case had not previously been made public, as has happened in some other detention cases in the Islamic Republic.