Planes, trains and bridges targeted as US forces obey President Donald Trump’s orders to step up attacks on civilian infrastructure in desperate bid to end what is becoming his nightmare war
American forces have hammered Iranian targets for a sixth night, killing at least eight and wounding 20 people, taking the recent toll to close to 40 dead. More than 400 Iranians have also been wounded since the memorandum of understanding which put the war on hold was shattered by missiles exchanges. Fresh US strikes marked a significant shift in targeting for the US with civilian infrastructure, including bridges, airports, power facilities and a train station bombed.
Iran’s Eagle airbase in southern Iran-built to protect Tehran’s airforce- is among the targets that have been badly hit in US air strikes. Bombs have smashed through reinforced roofs and caused extensive damage to aircraft , the Mirror has learned. American forces have expanded their mission capability in the region and now have some 300 warplanes in the Middle East ready to strike Iran.
Sources suggest the latest onslaughts against Iranian targets take the total number of US bombs to hit the country to more than 13,000. Iran has hit back today by aiming missiles at US assets in Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and even Qatar, where a child was injured by falling debris after air defences hit a missile.
Tehran has again underlined its claim that the Strait of Hormuz will never again return to its pre-war status and the US stepped up its blockade of ships in and out of Iran.
After Friday’s strikes Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) threatened a “devastating price” for countries hosting US bases if American attacks continue.
It said in a statement: “The American enemy and the hosts of its bases in the region should know that crossing red lines and attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure will have a very severe and devastating price to pay.”
But Iran has also targeted the infrastructure of its Gulf neighbours, targeting Kuwait’s civilian facilities in a bid to strike pressure on the US. Iranian strikes hit a Kuwait power and desalination plant, damaging the water facility. The country relies on desalinated water for about 90% of its drinking water.
Officials said they were working to assess the damage and get the plant running again. The escalation and US desperation to come to a swifter conclusion to the war has been made more alarming by a renewed threat from the Yemeni Houthis, a powerful Iranian proxy.
According to sources, as revealed in the Daily Mirror this week, the Shia Houthis have put aside theIslamic schism between them and Sunni al-Shabab terror group in Somalia to join forces.
Iran has encouraged the Houthis and al-Shabab to join forces and threaten to block the Bab el-Mandab Strait which runs between Djibouti and Yemen. With Iranian help drone technology has been smuggled to the al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabab group to help blockade the Bab al-Mandab if and when ordered by Tehran.
