Iran launches strikes on neighbours as US resumes blockade and Trump threatens to hit power plants
Tehran's attack comes as the US military carried out a fourth night of strikes against Iran after President Donald Trump reinstated its blockade of Iranian shipping around the strait of Hormuz.
Published on 15/07/2026 - 6:16 GMT+2
Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps early Wednesday claimed to have attacked the US Fifth Fleet's command-and-control, logistical, petroleum, and military equipment installations in Bahrain and Kuwait, vowing to continue the attacks against US military assets in the region.
Tehran's attack comes as the US military carried out a fourth night of strikes against Iran after President Donald Trump reinstated its blockade of Iranian shipping around the strait of Hormuz.
According to local media, the Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said the attacks were a reaction to American military actions and attempts to control the Strait of Hormuz.
If Washington keeps attempting to prevent the region's oil and gas exports by controlling maritime passages, the IRGC threatened to shut down other energy lines that serve US and partner interests, according to a statement quoted in local media.
In the statement, the guards declared that regional energy exports will be "for everyone or for no one". No particular routes that Iran might try to obstruct were mentioned in the statement.
Missile alert warnings went out in Bahrain and Kuwait early Wednesday morning as they faced incoming Iranian fire, something that’s been a daily occurrence, further straining a ceasefire in the war. Jordan also said it shot down three incoming Iranian missiles. Iran claimed attacks on the three nations.
The Kuwaiti army reported that Iranian "hostile" drone assaults were being repelled by its air defences.
US Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads Central Command, confirmed in a statement that Iran had launched dozens of missiles and drones at neighbouring Gulf Arab countries.
A statement by the US military said its forces carried out another wave of strikes as it reimposed the blockade, striking dozens of targets over seven hours, the US military’s Central Command said Wednesday.
“US fighter aircraft, drones, and naval vessels launched precision munitions against Iranian missile and drone sites, naval capabilities, and coastal defence systems during the seven-hour wave to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping and civilian crews,” CENTCOM wrote on X.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has threatened to strike Iran's power plants if Tehran doesn't come to the bargaining table.
Speaking in a TV interview, Trump said the United States will attack power plants and bridges next week.
"I'll save the energy targets for last, but ultimately we'll hit energy targets," Trump stated during a Tuesday night interview with Fox News.
"We're going to knock out all their power plants. We're gonna knock out their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate." he added.
It is not the first time that Trump has issued the threat.
Days of retaliatory strikes across the Middle East by Iran — and both nations’ attempts to assert control of the waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas trade passes during peacetime — threaten to push the region back to all-out war.
The US first imposed the blockade in mid-April and then lifted it in mid-June, a day after signing the interim deal that set a 60-day period for negotiations over issues like Iran’s nuclear program, but talks have stalled as fighting over the strait has intensified.
