Circuit Wire — a daily news update from The Circuit.
The United States struck Iran for a ninth consecutive night on July 19 and 20, with Iranian state media reporting explosions in Tabriz, Chabahar, Sirik, Jask, Bandar Mahshahr, Bandar Imam Khomeini and Bushehr province, according to Al Jazeera. The US military said the strikes targeted capabilities Iran has used to attack commercial vessels and mariners moving through the Strait of Hormuz.
The blasts near Tabriz mark the first time the northwestern city has been hit since this round of fighting resumed. Iran responded with what state media called a new wave of missiles from Lorestan province aimed at US military assets across the region, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed strikes on US positions in Jordan and Kuwait.
CENTCOM confirmed a US soldier was killed in northern Iraq on July 18 during a controlled detonation of an unexploded Iranian drone, according to CBS News. Two other soldiers died in a separate Iranian attack in Jordan on July 17, and searchers are still working to confirm remains found at that site. The war has now killed 17 US service members and wounded more than 420, the highest US casualty count since the conflict began on February 28.
Kuwait reported a second straight day of attacks on the desalination plant that supplies most of the country's drinking water, first hit on July 17. Bahrain sounded air raid sirens for a second time in two days, and Jordan's military said it shot down three Iranian missiles overnight. This follows our July 18 coverage of the initial strike on that plant.
The Strait of Hormuz has become the fight's central pressure point. Washington says it is enforcing a naval blockade on Iranian ports, and CENTCOM said it redirected six commercial vessels and disabled another to force compliance. Tehran says it is defending an approved transit corridor and accused four vessels of attempting an "unsafe route" through the strait over the weekend, claiming two abandoned the attempt and two were involved in an unspecified "accident."
A ceasefire framework reached last month had provided 60 days for the two sides to negotiate a permanent deal, with a provision guaranteeing free passage through the strait. That framework has now effectively collapsed. For firms with people or cargo transiting the Gulf, the blockade enforcement on both sides means transit delays, rerouting and cargo risk are now standing conditions rather than temporary disruptions.
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