Zürcher Nachrichten - US-Iran fighting escalates with infrastructure targeted

A month after they agreed a preliminary deal aimed at ending their war, fighting has intensified, with Tehran accusing Washington of hitting an airport, railway station and bridges.

Iran retaliated Saturday with strikes on an oil facility in Kuwait as well as a power and water plant, authorities in the Gulf state said, while in Bahrain the army said air defences repelled a wave of Iranian attacks.

"Iran will no longer limit itself to retaliatory, like-for-like responses... and no political border will be safe," said Major General Mohsen Rezaei, a senior military adviser to Iran's supreme leader, according to state media.

He said Tehran would resume "full-scale offensive operations" if US strikes continue for another two or three days.

Kuwait accused Iran of targeting civilian sites and vital infrastructure after the strike on the power plant forced several power generation units to be deactivated.

It was the second attack on a Kuwaiti power and water plant in as many days, with the first on Friday causing a fire and damage.

Kuwait's state oil firm reported injuries and damage in an attack on an oil facility, and the country's fire service said firefighters were injured battling blazes sparked by Iranian attacks.

In Bahrain, another US ally in the Gulf, the Iranian army said it targeted an air base used by the United States, according to the state broadcaster.

Drones targeted "aircraft shelters and parking areas, fuel storage tanks of the US military at Sheikh Isa Air Base, as well as several connecting bridges", the army said.

Jordan was also hit, with the Iranian state broadcaster reporting fuel tanks at its Al-Azraq base were targeted.

Jordan's army said it had shot down 10 missiles but with no casualties or damage.

- Escalating threats -

Hope for a political settlement to the war has fallen by the wayside, though mediators have attempted to bring both sides back to the negotiating table.

US President Donald Trump this week threatened to hit Iranian infrastructure, although there has been no confirmation from Washington since then that US forces have begun to do so.

Iranian state news agency IRNA reported Saturday that US attacks killed three people and wounded eight in the southern province of Hormozgan.

Local authorities said 116 telecommunications towers had been knocked out of service, with landline, mobile and internet connections down in some northern areas of the province.

In Khuzestan province, the deputy provincial governor said the US had attacked 95 locations in 12 cities over the past 10 days, according to Iran's Tasnim news agency.

Eight people had been killed in the attacks, he said.

Iranian authorities also said the supply of drinking water to several villages in the south had been cut off, accusing the US of striking power facilities and desalination plant pumps in the village of Bonji, according to Tasnim.

Iran's energy ministry urged citizens to reduce electricity use and switch off air conditioners in peak hours after the power grid came under strain.

The health ministry said Friday that 50 people had been killed since the renewed fighting broke out a week ago and more than 500 injured.

- 'Capitulation' -

David Khalfa, a Middle East specialist at the Paris-based Jean-Jaures Foundation, said a "widening range of strategic infrastructure" was being drawn into the conflict.

"The paradox is that, while the conflict continues to escalate, neither side has a strategic interest in allowing this dynamic to continue. Yet both perceive any compromise as a form of capitulation," Khalfa told AFP.

The latest bout of violence was sparked by Iranian attacks on ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a vital transport lane for Gulf energy exports that Iran seeks to control.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Saturday said two oil tankers in the waterway, which they claimed were being directed by US intelligence agencies, had exploded after hitting mines, but the US military quickly denied the claim.

The Revolutionary Guards also said on state television they had "stopped" four ships trying to transit.

Iran closed the strait after the war broke out in late February with US-Israeli strikes, and control over the route has become key leverage in negotiations with the US.

But the US has also reimposed its own blockade of Iran's ports as part of the recent escalation, seeking to cut off the country's oil revenues.

burs-axn/jsa

F.E.Ackermann--NZN