Circuit Wire — a daily news update from The Circuit.
Iran launched missiles and drones at six countries across the Gulf on July 17, striking Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Jordan, Syria and Kuwait in the widest single night of retaliatory attacks since the US-Iran war resumed last month.
The most serious damage hit Kuwait, where Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attacked a power and water desalination plant, sparking a fire that authorities said caused widespread damage to the station. About 90% of Kuwait's drinking water comes from desalination. Officials said they extinguished the blaze and were still assessing the damage as of Friday.
Qatar's air defenses intercepted a barrage of Iranian projectiles, including at least one missile, but falling shrapnel wounded a child in Doha during the interceptions, according to Qatar's Interior Ministry. The ministry issued two separate shelter alerts within an hour of each other. Bahrain activated air raid sirens and urged residents to stay calm. Jordan's military said it shot down three Iranian missiles with no casualties. In Oman, Iran's Revolutionary Guard claimed it destroyed a US air-control radar and a maritime radar near the Strait of Hormuz, a day after a tanker sustained minor damage from an unidentified projectile off Khasab. In Syria, Iran said it struck a US special operations base at al-Tanf.
The retaliation came as the US carried out its sixth consecutive night of strikes on Iran, hitting six bridges and a railway station in the southern Hormozgan province and killing at least eight people, Iranian state media reported. Iran's Energy Ministry acknowledged for the first time that US strikes had damaged power infrastructure, and asked residents in southern provinces to cut consumption during a heat wave. Iran says 38 people have been killed and more than 400 wounded in US strikes since talks aimed at ending the war began in Switzerland on June 22.
The exchanges mark a sharp escalation from the strikes Iran launched on Jordan and Gulf states on July 13, which triggered airspace closures and shelter alerts across the region. Crossings through the Strait of Hormuz fell to a three-week low this week, and oil prices climbed above $86 a barrel as shippers weigh the risk of transiting the waterway.
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