Morning update
Good morning Middle East Eye readers,
US attacks across Iran intensified overnight and early on Friday morning. Iranian state media reported that the death toll from US targeting bridges in the south of the country is at least seven civilians so far.
Meanwhile, blasts from Iranian strikes were heard across the region, including in Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and Syria.
Here are the latest developments:
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it launched an attack on a US special operations command centre at al-Tanf in Syria. According to a statement carried by the Tasnim news agency, the IRGC said the attack was in retaliation for the killing of Iranian soldiers in Iranshahr.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said US President Trump is “open to diplomacy” and that the US is still talking with Iran amid escalating tensions in the region.
Iranian armed forces spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari said the US is “terrified” of Iran’s “sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz,” as he accused Washington of destabilising the security in the critical transit corridor. Iran has asked countries in the Gulf “not to allow America to use their territories to attack us,” he added.
The head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, said on Thursday that if the US and Iran do not unite to improve flows of oil through the vital Strait of Hormuz, the world should soon be concerned about energy security.
The Israeli army has started setting up a new line of permanent military posts in southern Lebanon as a way of strengthening its hold in the area, according to Israeli daily Maariv.