Tehran’s response will leave the Americans “stunned,” a senior intelligence source told RT.
The US has launched another round of overnight strikes, reportedly hitting civilian infrastructure, including several bridges across Iran. Tehran had warned that further escalation would have consequences for the entire region.
US Central Command announced its sixth consecutive night of strikes on Thursday evening in a brief statement without disclosing the targets, after President Donald Trump threatened earlier this week to expand the bombing campaign to Iranian power plants, energy infrastructure, and bridges.
The Iranian authorities say US airstrikes targeted five bridges in the southern province of Hormozgan overnight, expanding on earlier reports that transportation infrastructure was hit.
According to the provincial governorate, as cited by Fars news agency, the strikes damaged the Gariveh bridge linking Bandar Abbas with Bandar Khamir and Lar, a bridge near the village of Latidan, two bridges on the Kahoorestan–Lar route, a partially completed bridge connecting Bandar Khamir, Keshar, and Bandar Abbas, and a bridge in the village of Maru in the Khamir district.
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US missiles also reportedly struck Iranshahr Airport in southeastern Iran, while at least one civilian was killed and seven others were injured in another attack on a residential neighborhood in Bandar Abbas.
Iranian media reported that at least seven people were killed and 16 others injured in the strikes. The authorities urged residents to avoid traveling through the affected areas so emergency and rescue crews could access the sites.
“If the enemy, in the course of its war of attrition, seeks to strike Iran’s infrastructure or carry out further assassinations of officials, the entire region will pay the price,” a senior intelligence official in Tehran told RT on Thursday, as the US launched its latest strikes.
Iranian state media confirms that US forces struck two road bridges outside of Bandar Abbas tonight, cutting off the city from coastal routes to the west. pic.twitter.com/JcqmfXtYzX
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) July 16, 2026
Iran will unleash an all-out regional war that will leave the US “stunned” and prove to Trump how “unrealistic” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s expectations and assessments were, the source added.
“Iran’s plan for escalating the war will be full of surprises. And unlike the political disarray in the White House, here in Tehran we have maximum consensus on implementing this plan,” the official said.
The US resumed its strikes last week and reimposed its naval blockade of Iranian ports to protect commercial shipping and freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. Trump claimed that the US is now in control of the waterway and will act as its “guardian.”
In retaliation, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched drone and missile attacks against US military facilities in the region, including the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, one of America’s main naval hubs in the Persian Gulf. Tehran warned that regional oil and gas exports could be blocked completely and declared the strait closed until the US ends its “illegal” military intervention in the region.
