US military says it completed latest strikes on Iran, marking 7th consecutive night of attacks

By Kanishka Singh and Jasper Ward

WASHINGTON, July 17 (Reuters) – The U.S. military said late on Thursday it completed its latest wave of strikes on Iran that were carried out at President Donald Trump’s direction and marked a seventh consecutive night of American attacks.

Here are details:

• “U.S. forces employed fighter aircraft, aerial drones, and warships in addition to other assets,” the U.S. Central Command said in a statement.

• U.S. strikes hit “surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities,” it added.

• Iran in turn struck U.S. allies in the Gulf on Friday, as both sides targeted infrastructure while shipping in the Strait of Hormuz came under further assault.

• Iranian state media earlier said at least five bridges were struck in the south in U.S. attacks on Friday.

• Seven people were reported killed in attacks on bridges in the southern port of Bandar Khamir, where the train station was also hit.

• An airport was reported hit further east and away from the coast in Iranshahr, in a province bordering Pakistan.

• Authorities in U.S. ally Kuwait said one of the country’s power generation and water desalination stations had been hit in an Iranian attack.

• Trump this week reiterated threats to hit Iranian energy targets while also threatening to target bridges next week.

• The 1949 Geneva Conventions on humanitarian conduct in war prohibit attacks on sites considered essential for civilians.

• After Trump’s past threats to strike such targets, international law experts in the U.S. said earlier this year such attacks may amount to war crimes.

• Trump received widespread condemnation in April when he threatened to destroy Iran’s entire civilization before reaching a ceasefire with Tehran.

• The Iran war began when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28 and Iran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states that host U.S. bases.

• U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks on Lebanon during the war have killed thousands and displaced millions.

• The war has raised oil prices and shaken global markets.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Stephen Coates)