{"id":139513,"date":"2026-07-17T02:12:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T08:12:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/us-strikes-bridges-and-collapses-a-tower-at-a-key-port-as-its-iran-campaign-expands\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T02:16:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T08:16:23","slug":"us-strikes-bridges-and-collapses-a-tower-at-a-key-port-as-its-iran-campaign-expands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/us-strikes-bridges-and-collapses-a-tower-at-a-key-port-as-its-iran-campaign-expands\/","title":{"rendered":"US strikes bridges and collapses a tower at a key port as its Iran campaign expands"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A
A woman flashes a victory sign while walking at Tehran's traditional main bazaar, Iran, Thursday, July 16, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 The United States expanded its airstrike campaign against Iran<\/a> early Friday by hitting more bridges, electricial equipment and collapsing a tower at a key Iranian port, part of U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s threats to start striking infrastructure to pressure Tehran to ease its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz. Iran launched new missile attacks against U.S.-allied nations in the Middle East, including Qatar, a key mediator in the war.<\/p>\n

The interim ceasefire agreed to last month has collapsed<\/a>, and the region has endured days of back-and-forth attacks by the U.S. and Iran as they battle for control of the strait<\/a>. Iranian officials say U.S. strikes have killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds of others, with new casualties reported in Friday\u2019s strikes.<\/p>\n

When the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran effectively closed the strait to shipping traffic, a move that sent the price of oil soaring<\/a> and gave Iran major leverage in negotiations.<\/p>\n

Speaking in a primetime address to the American public, Trump insisted the war was going well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are likewise winning big in Iran, and you will see the fruits of that labor very, very shortly,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

Bridges and ‘electrical infrastructure’ hit in Iran<\/strong><\/p>\n

The U.S. airstrikes hit bridges overnight into Friday in Iran\u2019s southern Hormozgan province, killing at least seven people, Iranian state television reported. The attacks hit Bandar Khamir, a city on Iran\u2019s coast on the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

The highway and railway bridge strikes appeared aimed at cutting off Bandar Abbas, Iran\u2019s main port, from roads leading into the Islamic Republic\u2019s central region onward to Tehran, the capital.<\/p>\n

While other routes still are open, the U.S. strikes could expand further, potentially disrupting both the movement of military materiel and goods needed for Iran\u2019s 90 million people.<\/p>\n

Iran also acknowledged \u201cattacks on power infrastructure\u201d during the U.S. airstrike campaign for the first time Friday when its Energy Ministry issued a call for people to use less power in southern provinces.<\/p>\n

It said those areas \u201care currently experiencing extreme heat and attacks on power infrastructure.\u201d The ministry did not elaborate on whether it was power plants, transmission lines or other equipment that had been attacked.<\/p>\n

Such strikes on power infrastructure had been suspected for days. Tehran city councilman Mehdi Chamran told journalists asking about electrical problems on Tuesday, \u201cJust look at how many power facilities they hit \u2026 and you wouldn\u2019t be asking that question.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tower at key port collapses in US strike<\/strong><\/p>\n

The U.S. military\u2019s Central Command said it hit dozens of targets in its latest airstrikes, which concluded at dawn Friday, the sixth night in a row of American attacks.<\/p>\n

The strikes also collapsed a tower at Iran\u2019s Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman, a key trade route for landlocked, neighboring Afghanistan, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.<\/p>\n

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared the image of the surveillance tower collapsing, part of his effort to assert American control over the strait. That image had circulated social media via activists prior to Hegseth sharing it.<\/p>\n

Chabahar port, which Iran had been running with support from India, has been a repeated target of American airstrikes. Iranian state media acknowledged a third round of strikes on the facility without immediately acknowledging the tower\u2019s collapse.<\/p>\n

Iran described the tower as overseeing commercial traffic into the port. However, Iran\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard also operates at ports across the country.<\/p>\n

As of 6 a.m. Friday, the U.S. strikes had killed at least 38 people and wounded more than 400 in Iran, Health Ministry spokesperson Hossein Kermanpour said.<\/p>\n

Iran retaliates by targeting Qatar, a mediator in the war <\/strong><\/p>\n

On Friday, Qatar twice warned the public to take shelter as a barrage of Iranian missiles targeted the nation. People heard explosions overhead as air defenses fired to intercept the missiles. Qatar\u2019s Interior Ministry said falling debris wounded a child.<\/p>\n

Qatar, along with Pakistan, is a key mediator in trying to reach an end to the Iran war. But talks have broken down over Iran\u2019s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

Iran also targeted Bahrain and Kuwait early Friday. Jordan’s military said it intercepted three incoming missiles Friday morning launched by Iran.<\/p>\n

Explosions also could be heard Friday morning in Irbil and Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq\u2019s semiautonomous Kurdish region as air defenses targeted incoming fire. The attack apparently targeted the Iranian Kurdish dissident group Komala, killing at least nine people and wounding others, said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.<\/p>\n

Iran did not immediately claim the attack but has targeted Komala in the past.<\/p>\n

Also on Friday, a tanker came under attack traveling through the Strait of Hormuz taking the route closest to Oman, the British military said.<\/p>\n

The report from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said the ship sustained minor damage without any of its crew being injured.<\/p>\n

Iran has been attacking tankers traveling on the route near Oman but did not immediately acknowledge any attack.<\/p>\n

Strikes come as Iran and US vie for Strait of Hormuz<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump has returned in recent days to his threats to target Iranian power stations and bridges to try to compel Iran to loosen its hold on the strait, through which about a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded once passed in peacetime. The U.S. also reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports to halt its shipments of crude oil.<\/p>\n

Week-to-week cargo shipments through the strait dropped by almost a quarter at the beginning of the month, according to maritime data firm Lloyd\u2019s List Intelligence. And that was before the recent surge in violence.<\/p>\n

Given the risks, some oil shippers are transiting the strait with their location devices turned off, but many are just staying put, Lloyd\u2019s said Thursday. A growing amount of the region\u2019s energy is being shipped through pipelines, but not nearly enough to offset the decline in shipping through the strait.<\/p>\n

U.S. forces have redirected three commercial vessels trying to run the blockade, disabled one that did not comply and boarded another.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, Annika Wolters in Rayong, Thailand, and Stella Martany in Irbil, Iraq, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

\"Two
Two men wade in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz with vessels anchored in the background, off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Sunday, July 12, 2026. (Razieh Poudat\/ISNA via AP)<\/span>(Razieh Poudat\/ISNA via AP)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"People
People walk around Tehran's traditional main bazaar, Iran, Thursday, July 16, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A man waves an Iranian flag beneath a billboard reading in English, "Who is D nexT one?" and "#lindseygraham," referring to late U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and using the capital letters "D" and "T" in an apparent play on the initials of U.S. President Donald Trump, in downtown Tehran, Iran, Thursday, July 16, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A woman flashes a victory sign while walking at Tehran's traditional main bazaar, Iran, Thursday, July 16, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)(AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi) DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 The United States expanded its airstrike campaign against Iran early Friday by hitting more bridges, electricial equipment and collapsing a tower at a key Iranian port, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-139513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139513"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139536,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139513\/revisions\/139536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139513"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=139513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}