One tunnel, three bridges, 116 telecom towers hit in Iran

Smoke and flames are engulfing both shores of the Strait of Hormuz. Missile strikes are crippling Iran’s road network one after another, while retaliatory attacks are once again setting the Middle East ablaze. The conflict is no longer confined to the skies. Roads, ports and strategic infrastructure are collapsing under the devastation of war. During the seventh day of attacks, the United States struck a key road tunnel, three bridges and 116 telecommunications towers in Iran’s Hormozgan province overnight.

In a statement issued Saturday, the provincial government said both entrances of the Shahid Mirzaei Tunnel were damaged. The Rudkhaneh Shur Bridge on the Bandar Abbas-Sirjan Highway was also hit. In addition, two more bridges on the Minab-Rudan road were damaged. A total of 116 telecommunications towers across Hormozgan province have been put out of service. The head of the province’s Communications and Information Technology Department said the damage has disrupted landline, mobile and internet services in Bandar Abbas, Hajiabad and several northern areas of the province.

Iran has not remained idle either. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has called for retaliation. The force claimed it carried out missile and drone strikes on a US Navy fuel support jetty at Kuwait’s Al-Ahmadi Port and a military aircraft facility at Bahrain’s Sheikh Isa Air Base.

The IRGC also claimed it destroyed a telecommunications facility in Bahrain, saying it had been used as a US intelligence center. It further claimed to have destroyed a US signal and communications center in Kuwait. The force described the attacks as the 19th phase of Operation Nasr-2.

Meanwhile, Mojtaba Yousefi, a member of the presidium board of Iran’s Parliament, said in a statement on Saturday that the country should immediately withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). He asked, “On what grounds are we still in the NPT? We must decide today and leave the treaty.”

He also said that failing to retaliate against those responsible for killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei would be ‘a strategic mistake.’ The IRGC claimed it launched a coordinated missile and drone attack on a US base in Azraq, Jordan, destroying at least two fighter jets and three other military aircraft. Several additional aircraft were also damaged, according to the force. It described the attack as the 20th phase of Operation Nasr-2.

In addition, a senior Iranian official claimed that Tehran is targeting ships transporting military equipment through Omani waters. He said the measure is being taken in the interest of national security.