Iranian armed forces launched attacks on US military infrastructure in several Gulf states on Thursday, marking another escalation in tensions following recent US strikes on Iran and further undermining a fragile ceasefire.
The attacks came after the United States carried out strikes on Iran’s southern coastal and eastern provinces. Hours later, Iranian media reported multiple explosions in southern Iran, including in Bushehr, home to one of the country’s nuclear power plants, as well as Konarak, Choghadak and Bandar Abbas.
A US official, however, said there had been no American strikes in recent hours, leaving the cause of the reported explosions unclear.
The latest escalation coincided with the burial of Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, bringing to a close a week of funeral processions and public mourning across Iran and Iraq.