Iran says at least four killed as US strikes enter 13th consecutive night

At least four people have been killed in Iran after the United States military bombed the country for the 13th consecutive night, according to Iranian state media reports.

The Middle East-based Central Command (CENTCOM) of the US military said early on Friday that it targeted “Iranian military command centers, drone storage facilities, communication networks, coastal surveillance sites, and maritime capabilities”.

The attacks “aimed to hold Iran accountable and diminish threats from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC] to commercial shipping”, the US military added.

Iranian officials reported that a US attack on the southwestern province of Khuzestan killed at least four people.

“Following the missile attack by the terrorist US enemy on areas around the city of Ahvaz, four of our compatriots were martyred and five others were injured,” Valiollah Hayati, deputy governor of the province, was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

Explosions were also reported in six other provinces, including Lorestan and Hormozgan, according to Iranian media reports.

The US military said that the Strait of Hormuz remains open for transit despite recent attacks from the IRGC, noting that commercial vessels continue to freely navigate the strait with US military support. The IRGC, however, has stressed that it has control of the waterway and safe passage is only guaranteed through coordination with Iran.

On Friday, Iran’s military said it responded to the US strikes by launching a new wave of drone attacks targeting US military facilities in Bahrain and Jordan.

In a statement carried by Iran’s Mehr news agency, the army said it used drones to target fuel storage tanks, equipment warehouses and troop living quarters at Sheikh Isa Airbase in Bahrain.

The military added that aircraft hangars, maintenance facilities and accommodation sites at the Muwaffaq Salti/Al-Azraq base in Jordan were also hit, warning that any actions against Iran’s interests would undermine regional security and economic stability.

‘Eye for an eye’

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump had stepped up his rhetoric against Tehran. He told the US news website Axios that he may launch the largest strikes on Iran yet after Tehran carried out another wave of retaliatory attacks on US allies in the Gulf, including hitting a telecommunications tower in Kuwait.

Trump said he was “considering a massive attack” that would be “bigger than ever before”.

“I am close to making a decision. We are all set for it,” Trump said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi meanwhile said that “mindless aggression” will see Trump pay a “heavier price” for a deal.

Earlier, Araghchi had warned that Tehran would retaliate against any future attacks, including those on Iran’s infrastructure, with “an eye for an eye”. In response, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said on Thursday that Trump’s approach was “a head for an eye”.

Trump’s threats and Tehran’s latest retaliation raise the stakes yet again in a weeks-long military confrontation in which the US has attacked Iranian sites including bridges and tunnels, according to Iranian media reports.

Iran’s retaliatory attacks have rippled throughout much of the Gulf, prompting fears of a worsening energy crisis.

The spiralling conflict has all but destroyed an interim peace deal signed by the US and Iran last month.

Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett said that it appears that the US may be considering an escalation to force a negotiated settlement.

“The US media is reporting the president is close to a decision on a potential massive attack and military preparations are in place, but the US president also, with his words on Thursday, signalled that there is something potentially looming, given the fact that he said Iran is not ready to make a deal just yet, but they may be soon,” she said.

Houthis attack Saudi tankers

Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthi group further expanded the confrontation on Thursday by firing at two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea, leading to broad international condemnation and a spike in global oil prices.

“The situation is getting out of control. It is teetering on the edge of the unimaginable,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a meeting of the Security Council. “One crisis feeds another. One escalation triggers the next.”

The Houthis have declared a blockade of Saudi Arabian ports, destabilising a second key global shipping route: the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively shut since the US and Israel launched the war on Iran in late February.

Reporting from Sanaa, Yemen, Al Jazeera’s Yousef Mawry cited Houthi sources as saying that the facilities of Saudi Arabia’s national oil company Aramco “could become a future target” of the Houthis if Riyadh does not lift its own blockade on Houthi-controlled ports.

The international oil benchmark Brent crude surged past $100 a barrel on Thursday for the first time since May, in what analysts said could have an even greater impact on the global economy.

“Much of the world’s spare production capacity has already been used, while strategic and commercial oil inventories are lower than when the war began, leaving the market with fewer buffers against a prolonged supply disruption,” said Janiv Shah, vice president of the Rystad Energy consultancy.