US expands its airstrike campaign against Iran by hitting more bridges

The United States expanded its airstrike campaign against Iran early on Friday by increasingly hitting bridges, part of President Donald Trump’s threats to start striking infrastructure to pressure Tehran to ease its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran launched new missile attacks against US-allied nations in the Middle East and warned that its attacks would escalate.

In Qatar, authorities warned the public to take shelter as a barrage of Iranian missiles targeted the nation.

People heard explosions overhead as air defences fired to intercept the missiles.

Qatar is a key mediator with Pakistan in trying to reach an end to the Iran war. But talks have broken down over Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran earlier targeted Bahrain and Kuwait over US airstrikes hitting bridges in the Islamic Republic overnight.

The interim ceasefire agreed to last month has collapsed, and the region has endured days of back-and-forth attacks by the US and Iran as they battle for control of the strait.

Iranian officials say US strikes have killed more than 35 people and wounded over 300 others, with new casualties reported in Friday’s strikes.

When the US and Israel launched the war on Iran on February 28, Tehran effectively closed the strait to shipping traffic, a move that sent the price of oil soaring and gave Iran major leverage in negotiations.

Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesperson for the Iranian military’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, earlier threatened that Iran could launch widespread attacks on “all the infrastructure in the region” if the US acted on Mr Trump’s repeated warnings that America could hit Iranian bridges and power plants.

“Under no circumstances and in no way will we allow America, as a foreign and extraregional country, to interfere in the Strait of Hormuz,” he added.

“This is Iran’s invincible red line.”