US, Iran attack infrastructure as tensions escalate in Strait of Hormuz

The United ‌States struck bridges and an airport in Iran on Friday and Tehran responded by hitting a power and desalination plant in Kuwait, as the warring foes risked further escalation by expanding their targets to include infrastructure. In the contested Strait of Hormuz, where the renewed conflict has again cut off global energy supplies from the Middle East, U.S. Marines boarded a tanker and another ship was reported to have been hit by a projectile. Another vessel was boarded by armed men off Yemen, though one maritime security source said the incident appeared to be an act of Somali piracy rather than linked to the Iran conflict. Washington and Tehran have been testing the limits of escalation since their ceasefire agreement collapsed last week, raising the prospect of a return to all-out war. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to ⁠launch broad-based air strikes on Iran's infrastructure and has also declined to rule out a ground assault on Iran's coast or islands. U.S. officials have said attacks on southern Iran are designed in part to give Trump options. Such moves risk provoking Iran to escalate in turn by hitting the vital infrastructure of neighbouring Arab countries, or having its allies in Yemen further disrupt global energy supplies by attacking shipping from the Red Sea. Bridges hit in Iran, plant hit in Kuwait In the latest strikes, the U.S. military's Central Command included "military logistics infrastructure" in the list of targets it ‌said it had hit, the first time it has mentioned infrastructure in more than a week. Iranian state media said at least five bridges had been struck in the south. 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...