Explosive-laden drones targeted Irbil, a city in northern Iraq where U.S. forces are stationed, with at least seven blasts heard near a military base. The attacks occurred Friday, hours after the U.S. military announced its 13th night of strikes against Iran amid escalating clashes over global shipping routes. The city is located in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
The conflict has intensified over the past week, with the U.S. pounding Iran and Tehran retaliating with attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz and targeting U.S. assets and allies in the region. The U.S. and Israel initiated strikes against Iran on February 28, with stated goals that have shifted from toppling the Iranian government and eliminating its nuclear program to focusing on control of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran appears to be leveraging its ability to disrupt global trade to seek concessions, while the U.S. aims to mitigate this economic damage.
In response to the escalating tensions, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard urged people in neighboring countries to stay away from bases with American troops and to report their locations, according to a statement read on state TV. Concurrently, Bahrain announced it intercepted and shot down Iranian aerial attacks on Friday. Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th fleet, but no information was immediately available regarding casualties or damage in Bahrain.
Overnight U.S. strikes in Iran reportedly hit a naval base for the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in the country's north, according to semiofficial news outlets Fars and ISNA. Blasts were also reported on Iran’s Qeshm Island, a base for naval assets including drone boats that Iran can use to attack vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, and in Isfahan province, which houses a major Iranian air base and one of Iran’s nuclear sites. More strikes reportedly hit Iran’s southwest Khuzestan province and southern Fars province.
The situation has been further complicated by attacks on shipping routes. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for attacking two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea on Thursday, potentially widening the conflict as international oil topped $100 a barrel. This action increased the leverage for Iran, whose ability to effectively close the Strait of Hormuz could cause significant global economic chaos. Brent crude oil prices topped $100 a barrel in the wake of these attacks, though they have since come down.
The Houthi attacks also made good on their threat to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Saudi-linked shipping. This strait connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and is a vital global trade route, through which around 12% of the world’s trade passes, including a fourth of global container traffic. Saudi Arabia has been diverting millions of barrels of oil a day to its Red Sea port of Yanbu as a way of bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened “major military punishment” against the Houthis if their attacks on ships continue. He also warned Iran over its attacks on ships, saying on social media Thursday that sanctioned Iranian funds in U.S. possession will be used to pay for fixing boats damaged in the war. It was unclear what legal mechanisms Trump would use to access and spend the funds. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the suggestion, writing on X that “once governments normalize confiscation, no one’s assets are safe. Ensuing chaos will not be pretty or peaceful.”
The International Maritime Organization reports that at least 6,000 mariners are stranded on about 400 vessels around the Strait of Hormuz. U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk called Friday for “urgent action” to help them. His office said the seafarers are exposed to the fighting and some have been abandoned by their ships’ owners, leaving them to “fend for themselves without food, water, fuel, medical care, electricity or means to communicate with their families.”
Iran asserts it has the right to manage traffic and potentially charge fees in the Strait of Hormuz, which was open to all toll-free before the war. It has attacked ships using a route through the strait that is overseen by U.S. forces and intended to be outside Tehran’s control.
