Kuwait on Saturday said Iran struck another of its power and water plants, leading to the deactivation of several power generation units, a day after a similar attack.
Tehran launched renewed strikes on Gulf states after a seventh consecutive night of US attacks on Iranian military sites, including logistics infrastructure, escalating the war a week after a fragile ceasefire fell apart.
Kuwait's Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy Ministry said several power generation units were shut down after the latest Iranian strike.
“Another electricity and water distillation plant was targeted by a hostile attack that led to a fire erupting in one of the plant's components,” which resulted in the deactivation of some power generation units, the ministry wrote on social media.
Washington and Tehran have been testing the limits of escalation since their ceasefire collapsed last week, raising the prospects of a return to all-out war.
Retaliatory strikes
The two sides also fired at shipping traffic, with the US saying it was enforcing a naval blockade while Iran said it was aiming at ships that breached its rules for navigating the Strait of Hormuz, through which one fifth of the world's oil and gas supply usually passes.
The US military's Central Command said it ended its latest round of attacks by hitting surveillance sites, military logistical infrastructure, underground weapons storage and maritime capabilities.
“US forces employed fighter aircraft, aerial drones and warships in addition to other assets,” Centcom said. “More than 50,000 American service members are operating across the Middle East and remain vigilant, lethal and ready.”
Iranian media reported on Saturday, quoting a local official, that several US missiles had struck power stations and desalination pumps in the southern city of Jask. The official said drinking water had been cut off in villages around the city.
The US said its forces had redirected four commercial ships, disabled one and boarded another while enforcing its blockade of Iranian ports.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said four vessels that were in breach of its rules on shipping traffic were prevented from crossing the strait by a combined missile and drone operation.
Iranian media, quoting the IRGC, also reported that two oil tankers had exploded and caught fire after passing through a mined route in the south of the strait. The US military described that report as false.
Armed men seized another ship off Yemen, raising concern over security in the Middle East's other major chokepoint for oil shipments, at the mouth of the Red Sea.
Iranian state television quoted the IRGC as saying that until US “aggression” comes to an end, it will not be possible to export chemical fertilisers or even a “single drop of oil and gas” from the region.
Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, on Friday warned the US against escalation or any attempt to seize Iranian territory.
Early on Saturday, Iranian media reported strikes in coastal Hormozgan province on the Iranian side of the Strait of Hormuz, killing three people and injuring eight while damaging two bridges and a road tunnel.
Iranian media reported explosions and strikes carried in Sirik, Ahvaz, Yazd, Jask and Khorramabad overnight on Friday.
On Friday, Iranian state media said at least five bridges were struck by the US in the south of the country, with seven people killed in the southern port of Bandar Khamir, where a railway station was also hit.
An airport was struck further east in Iranshahr, near the border with Pakistan.
US President Donald Trump has threatened to launch air strikes on Iran's infrastructure, and has also declined to rule out a ground assault of islands and coastal areas of the country.
Gulf under attack
Iran announced attacks on regional states that host US airbases, including Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan, as well as an American ship in the northern Indian Ocean.
Saudi Arabia's civil defence issued two warnings – the first in several months – urging residents of Al Kharj and Yanbu provinces to remain alert to a “potential danger”. It later reported that the danger had passed and did not provide details of what had prompted the alerts.
Earlier in the war, Iran hit some of Saudi Arabia's energy infrastructure.
In Kuwait, the IRGC said it had struck a US naval fuel-support pier at Al Ahmadi Port and a signals and communications centre. Iranian forces also fired at an ammunition depot at Al Adiri camp, as well as headquarters and ammunition depots at Ali Al Salem Airbase.
The Kuwaiti military reported on three occasions that it was responding to Iranian drone attacks.
In Bahrain, the IRGC said it had struck Sheikh Isa Airbase, which hosts US warplanes, and the Batelco intelligence data centre.
Bahrain’s military said it had intercepted several Iranian attacks after emergency sirens sounded in the country for four times in a matter of hours. The Interior Ministry urged residents to remain calm and seek shelter.
In Jordan, Iranian state media reported, fuel storage tanks were attacked at Al Azraq Airbase.
With Reuters
