The United States has launched a second consecutive day of military strikes against Iran, hitting a strategic railway bridge linking Tehran to China and Russia, as the two countries trade blows over control of the Strait of Hormuz in what analysts are describing as the most dangerous escalation of the 2026 Iran war since its outbreak in February.
US Central Command confirmed on Thursday that American forces conducted additional strikes targeting Iranian military infrastructure, following a wave the previous night in which CENTCOM said it had hit over 80 Iranian targets — including more than 60 boats belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps using precision munitions.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/09/middleeast/iran-us-ceasefire-attacks-resume-intl-hnk
The latest strikes hit the Aq Tekeh Khan railway bridge in Golestan province, in northeastern Iran, a critical junction on the rail corridor connecting Iran to Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and ultimately China and Russia.
According to IranWire, the IRGC’s Ninava Corps confirmed the strike was carried out using a cruise missile, causing physical damage to the bridge, though it said there were no casualties at the site.
Iran’s state railway immediately suspended passenger services between Tehran and the northeastern city of Mashhad following the strike, and dispatched repair crews to the site, according to Iranian state broadcaster IRIB. Road transportation was arranged for stranded passengers.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned the strikes, saying Washington had attacked five sites across the country over 48 hours, including three locations in southern coastal provinces — and that the attacks violated the United Nations Charter and breached the first clause of a Memorandum of Understanding both countries had signed in June.
The latest round of hostilities was triggered on July 7 when Iran’s Revolutionary Guards attacked three commercial tankers in the Strait of Hormuz — including a Qatari LNG tanker and a Saudi-flagged supertanker — setting one vessel ablaze and forcing its evacuation.
The Wall Street Journal reported the IRGC fired missiles at the ships. Qatar formally accused Iran of being behind the attack on its tanker.
In response, the US Department of the Treasury immediately revoked a temporary suspension of sanctions on Iranian oil that had been in place for less than 20 days under the MoU. President Donald Trump was unequivocal on social media.
“This is in retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran,” he wrote. “If it happens again, it will get much worse.” CENTCOM then launched its first wave of strikes on July 8, targeting Iranian air defence systems, coastal surveillance equipment, anti-ship cruise missiles and drone launch sites along Iran’s southern coast, Al Jazeera reported.
Iran’s response has been broad and deliberate. The IRGC said Thursday it launched ballistic missile and drone strikes on US military bases in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Jordan.
Al Jazeera reported that Iran targeted the Sheikh Isa airbase in Bahrain, Kuwait’s Ali Al Salem and Ahmad Al-Jaber airbases, a satellite antenna in Qatar and US fuel depots in Bahrain. Iran then fired 10 ballistic missiles at the Al-Azraq military base in Jordan, which hosts US, German, Belgian and French forces. Jordan’s military said it intercepted eight of the missiles, with falling debris causing no casualties or material damage.
The Times of Israel reported that at least 14 people had been killed and 78 wounded in Iran over two days of American strikes, most of them members of the armed forces, according to Iran’s Health Ministry. Among the dead was a firefighter killed at an airport in Iranshahr, in Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province.
Iran’s parliamentary speaker and chief nuclear negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, was defiant in a post on X. “America still hasn’t learned that bullying and breaking promises are no longer cost-free,” he wrote. “Let me put it plainly: if you strike, you’ll get hit.”
At the heart of the conflict is a dispute over who controls one of the world’s most critical waterways. The Strait of Hormuz — just 34 kilometres wide at its narrowest point — facilitates the transit of approximately 20 million barrels of oil per day, representing roughly 20 per cent of global seaborne oil supply, according to Britannica’s conflict tracker.
The June MoU, brokered by Pakistan and Qatar, had sought to halt hostilities by lifting the US naval blockade of Iran in exchange for Tehran reopening the strait to commercial traffic.
But Iran insisted that ships use a northern route closer to Iranian-controlled waters, a condition the US rejected. On Thursday, the IRGC declared the strait “closed until further notice,” warning that all traffic, including oil tankers, would be targeted.
Al Jazeera’s reporting from Tehran described the situation as “almost a deadlock.” “For the Americans, they say that Iran will not have control over the Strait of Hormuz,” correspondent Mike Hanna reported from the White House. Iran’s position, its chief negotiator stated, is that the strait “would only be reopened under Iranian arrangements.”
For Nigeria, the stakes are immediate and direct. The Strait of Hormuz is a critical artery for global oil supply, and any sustained closure drives up crude prices on international markets — directly squeezing Nigeria’s import bills and complicating the Federal Government’s management of foreign exchange.
Nigeria already spends billions of naira monthly subsidising fuel costs; an extended Hormuz crisis would push those costs higher and further pressure the naira.
Abuja has not publicly commented on the latest escalation, but the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited will be monitoring developments closely as the conflict enters its most dangerous phase since February.
